"The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon". (35)
In this part of the book, the wise king tells Santiago a story. It's about a merchant that sends his son with the wisest king and asks him for the secret of happiness. After traveling a long time he gets to the castle and there's a lot of people in the room chattering, the king talking with everyone. He waited two hour to talk to him and when he finally did, the wise king told him to come back in two hours meanwhile he went on and explore his castle taking with him a spoon with two drops of oil and not to spill it. After walking around the house he returned and the wise king asked him if he liked all the marvelous things he had like the garden that took 10 years to design or the persian rugs. The kid with embarrassment confessed that he hadn't looked at anything because he was being careful not to spill the oil. The wise king told the boy to walk around one more time and look at the beautiful rooms and ornaments. The boy did and this time when he returned the wise king asked him if he liked what he saw, the boy said yes telling him all he had seen. But the the wise king asked the boy where was the oil? The boy looked at the spoon and it was empty. Then comes this quote that means we must recognize all the beautiful things in our path but never forget our objective, our destination.
"I'm like everyone else-- I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, now what actually does. " (43).
In a way this quote describes us all. We see things the way we want to see them and we do this because all our thoughts are focused on what we feel and what we want. So reality becomes a blur, for example: this friend and I are very close and one day when we say hi, he's distant so everyone's first thought is "is he/she is angry at me?" so we start to over-think everything we've said and done. But in reality he's not even thinking about you because not everything's about you. Sometimes we are so selfish because we cease the time to realize that everyone has their own problems and what they do has nothing to do with you. We must see things for what they are not what we would like them to be.
Fort
A fortified place or position stationed with troops.
The fort was being attacked by our enemies.
Plowing
A farm implement consisting of a strong blade at the end of a beam, usually hitched to a draft team or motor vehicle and used for breaking up soil and cutting furrows in preparation for sowing.
Plowing helps the sowing, makes it more efficient.
Fee
A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege
I had a fee to pay for ignoring a red light.
Infidels
Often Offensive An unbeliever with respect to a particular religion, especially Christianity or Islam.
Infidels are the ones that go to church because they see it as an obligation.
Unsheathed
To draw from or as if from a sheath or scabbard.
He unsheathed a drawing on the sand.
In this part of the book, the wise king tells Santiago a story. It's about a merchant that sends his son with the wisest king and asks him for the secret of happiness. After traveling a long time he gets to the castle and there's a lot of people in the room chattering, the king talking with everyone. He waited two hour to talk to him and when he finally did, the wise king told him to come back in two hours meanwhile he went on and explore his castle taking with him a spoon with two drops of oil and not to spill it. After walking around the house he returned and the wise king asked him if he liked all the marvelous things he had like the garden that took 10 years to design or the persian rugs. The kid with embarrassment confessed that he hadn't looked at anything because he was being careful not to spill the oil. The wise king told the boy to walk around one more time and look at the beautiful rooms and ornaments. The boy did and this time when he returned the wise king asked him if he liked what he saw, the boy said yes telling him all he had seen. But the the wise king asked the boy where was the oil? The boy looked at the spoon and it was empty. Then comes this quote that means we must recognize all the beautiful things in our path but never forget our objective, our destination.
"I'm like everyone else-- I see the world in terms of what I would like to see happen, now what actually does. " (43).
In a way this quote describes us all. We see things the way we want to see them and we do this because all our thoughts are focused on what we feel and what we want. So reality becomes a blur, for example: this friend and I are very close and one day when we say hi, he's distant so everyone's first thought is "is he/she is angry at me?" so we start to over-think everything we've said and done. But in reality he's not even thinking about you because not everything's about you. Sometimes we are so selfish because we cease the time to realize that everyone has their own problems and what they do has nothing to do with you. We must see things for what they are not what we would like them to be.
Fort
A fortified place or position stationed with troops.
The fort was being attacked by our enemies.
Plowing
A farm implement consisting of a strong blade at the end of a beam, usually hitched to a draft team or motor vehicle and used for breaking up soil and cutting furrows in preparation for sowing.
Plowing helps the sowing, makes it more efficient.
Fee
A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege
I had a fee to pay for ignoring a red light.
Infidels
Often Offensive An unbeliever with respect to a particular religion, especially Christianity or Islam.
Infidels are the ones that go to church because they see it as an obligation.
Unsheathed
To draw from or as if from a sheath or scabbard.
He unsheathed a drawing on the sand.