A great story

A story from "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, translated and paraphrased by me:

A merchant sent his son to learn the Secret to Happiness from the wisest of all men. The boy traveled 40 days through the desert until he reached the beautiful mountaintop castle where the wiseman lived.


The boy found in the immense entry way tons of merchants and people conversing, a small orchestra playing their melodies, and a table covered in the most delicious dishes of tht region. The wiseman conversed with everyone and the boy had to wait 2 hours until the wiseman came to him.


The wiseman listened to the boy, but explained that at that moment he didn't have enough time to explain the Secret to Happiness and suggested that he return in two hours, meeting him at a different gate to the castle. But before the boy departed, the wiseman asked him a favor: he gave the boy a teaspoon with two drops of oil and asked the boy to guard the drops until he returned, not letting them fall.


The boy kept his eyes on the two drops of oil while he made his way to the new meeting place. The wiseman asked the boy: did you see the garden created by the master gardeners over the past decade and the Persian tapestries hanging in the hall and the beautiful parchments in my library?


The boy, ashamed, confessed he had not seen any of it. He was preoccupied with not letting fall the drops of oil the wiseman had entrusted to him.


The wiseman told him to go back, then, to see the wonders of the his palace.


The boy took another pass through the palace, taking notice this time at all the works of art, the gardens, the mountains, the delicacy of the flowers, etc. When he returned back to the wiseman, he was able to relate all the details of what he saw.


"But where are the two drops of oil that I trusted you with?" asked the wiseman.


The boy realized he had dropped them.


"Well this is the only advice I have to give you," said the wisest of all wiseman, "The secret to happiness is in being able to see all the wonders of the world, while not ever forgetting the two drops of oil in your teaspoon."


"El secreto de la felicidad esta en mirar todas las maravillas del mundo y no olvidarse nunca de las dos gotas de aceite de la cucharita."