Chapter 2 Chapter 1 of "The Shepherd Boy's Fantastic Journey"

The boy's name was San Diego.At sunset he led a flock of sheep to an abandoned church.The cathedral roof appears to have fallen down long ago, and a huge fig tree now stands where the dressing room had once been. He decided to spend the night here. After watching the sheep jump into the door one by one, the boy erected some wooden boards on the ruined door to prevent the sheep from getting lost.There were no wolves around here, but if a sheep strayed, it would take him all day to find it. He dusted the floor with his jacket and lay down with a book he had just finished reading on his head.It's time to start reading thicker books, which last longer and are more comfortable for pillows, he told himself.

When he awoke, it was still dark.Looking up from the half-destroyed roof, the stars still twinkled.I wish I could sleep a little longer, he thought.He had had the same dream a week earlier, also waking up before it ended. He got up, picked up the cranked stick, and began to wake the sleepy sheep.He noticed that as soon as he woke up, most of the sheep also started to stir.There seems to be a mysterious force connecting him with these sheep.For the past two years, he has led the sheep across the countryside in search of pasture and water. "They are so familiar to me, they even know my routine." He muttered to himself, then thought for a while, and realized that the opposite might be the case, and he was getting used to their routine.

Still, some sheep just need a little more time to wake up.The boy prodded them one by one with his shepherd's stick, calling each one by name.He had always believed that they could understand him, so he would sometimes read them aloud to them from wonderful passages he had read in books, or tell them about the loneliness and joy of being a wandering shepherd.Other times he would comment on them about the villages he had just passed and the things he had seen. But for the past two days, he'd only said the same thing to them: the girl, the merchant's daughter.She lives in the village they will pass through in four days.He had been to that village once, just last year.The merchant ran a dry goods store and insisted on watching the sheep shave with his own eyes so as not to be scammed.

A friend introduced the boy to this store, so the boy went there with his flock. "I have wool to sell," the boy told the merchant. The shop happened to be busy, so the merchant asked the boy to wait until the afternoon.The boy sat on the steps in front of the store, took out a book from his backpack and read it. "I didn't know shepherds could read," said a girl's voice from behind. She has the appearance of a typical Andalusian (Note 2) girl, with flowing black hair and slightly Moorish (Note 3) eyes. "Oh, usually I learn more from sheep than from books," he replied.During the two hours downstairs, they talked about many things.She introduces herself as the merchant's daughter, and talks about how life in the village is pretty much the same.The shepherd told her about the Andalusian countryside, and new things that had happened in other villages and towns he had passed through.

It's a pleasant change to be able to chat with someone other than sheep. "How did you learn to read?" the girl asked a question. "Like everyone else," said the boy, "from school." "Since you can study, why do you want to be a shepherd?" Girls will never understand.He mumbled a reason, evaded her question, and went on to tell stories of the journey, while her bright, Moorish eyes widened in fear and wonder.As time flew by, the boy suddenly found himself wishing that day would never end, that her father was always busy, making him wait for three days.He realized that he was experiencing an unprecedented feeling: wanting to live in the same place for a long time.Life was never the same with the girl with the raven-black hair.

But the merchant finally appeared and told the boy to start shaving.He paid for the wool and asked the boy to come back next year. Now there were only four days left before he could reach the village again.He felt excited, but at the same time uneasy: maybe that girl had forgotten him long ago.There must be many wandering shepherds who come to her house to sell wool. "It's all right," he said to his sheep. "I know other girls in other places." But he knew in his heart that it actually had a lot to do with it.Shepherds, like sailors or traveling salesmen, eventually meet someone in a village who makes them forget how carefree their wandering life is.

The sun was setting in the west, and the shepherd urged his flock to go in the direction of the setting sun.They never have to make a decision, he thought, and maybe that's why they've always stuck close to me. Sheep only care about food and water.Their days are unchanging, endlessly continuing between sunrise and sunset.They neither read nor understood the faraway cities the boy told them about.As long as the boy can continue to find the best pasture in Andalusia, they will follow him obediently.Contented with food and water, they also generously return with their fur and sometimes even donate their flesh.

The boy thought, if today I become a devil and decide to slaughter these sheep, one by one, they will not know until most of the sheep are killed.Just because I can lead them to the delicious grass, they trust me and forget how to use their instincts to survive. The boy was startled by his own thoughts.Maybe it's the church with the fig tree?It caused him to have the same dream over and over again, and it made him resentful of his faithful companion. He took a sip from the wine left over from dinner the night before, and pulled his jacket tighter.By the time the sun hits the horizon in a few hours, the temperature will be too warm for him to lead his flock across the grasslands.During this season, most Spaniards spend their summers asleep.The heat will continue into the night, forcing him to keep his jacket on.But as soon as he thought of having to rely on it to survive the cold nights, he didn't dare to think that the jacket was too heavy.

We have to change from time to time, so the weight and warmth of that jacket are equally welcome, he thought. That jacket exists for a purpose, like the boy himself.The purpose of his existence is to travel, and after two years of traveling, he knows most of the cities in Andalusia.When he saw the girl again, he planned to explain to her why an ordinary shepherd could read and write. His parents expected him to become a priest, which would bring great honor to his humble peasant family.His family has always worked hard for food and water, just like his sheep.So he went to study Latin, Spanish, and theology.

But the boy has longed to know the world since he was a child.For him, this is more important than understanding God and the original sin of human beings.When he came home one afternoon he finally got up the courage to tell his father that he didn't want to be a priest, he just wanted to travel. "Son, people from all over the world have come to this place," said his father, "to find new things, and when they leave, they are basically the same people who came. They climbed the mountains to see Castle, in the end, I still feel that the past is better than the present. They may have blond hair, or they may have dark skin, but they are roughly the same as the people here."

"But I'd love to see the city and the castle where they lived," explained the son. "People who looked at our place said they would love to live here forever," continued the father. "I want to know where they live and how they live," said the son. "Those people have enough money for their travels," said his father, "but among our kind, only shepherds can travel." "Then I'll be a shepherd." His father said no more.The next day the father gave his son a purse containing three Spanish gold coins. "I found these one day in the fields. I meant to leave them to you as an inheritance. Now you can buy cattle with them. Go out to the fields, and someday you will understand that our land is the most fertile. , our women are the most beautiful." He blesses his son.The boy could see from his father's eyes that his father was also eager to travel—although he had to bury this desire deeply because he had slept on the same bed for decades and struggled for water and food every day, but the desire still exists. The horizon was filled with red light, and then the rising sun suddenly jumped out.The boy looked at the rising sun and recalled the conversation he had with his father.He was happy for himself; he had seen many castles and met many women (but none of them meant anything to him). Own a jacket, a book (which can be traded for other books), and a flock of sheep.Most importantly, he can live out his dreams every day.Once he had seen enough of Andalusia, he could sell the sheep and go to sea.By the time he gets tired of the ocean, he should have seen more castles, more women, and had enough fun.He stared at the red sun and thought, If I stay in the seminary, I won't find God. Every time he tried to take as far as possible, he took strange paths, so although he visited the area several times, he never spent the night in this dilapidated church.The world is so vast that sometimes he lets his sheep wander and digs out interesting things.The problem is that the sheep never notice that they are taking a new path, nor do they feel the change of seasons.They only care about food and water. Maybe we're all the same, the boy thought, even me.Since I met the merchant's daughter, I haven't thought of other women.He looked at the sun and estimated that he should be able to reach Tailifa before noon.There he could change a thicker book, refill his wine bottle, shave and get a haircut.He had to take care of himself before he saw the girl again; perhaps some other shepherd had gone after her first, perhaps one with more sheep, but he didn't want to contemplate the possibility. Life is more interesting in living in hope, he thought, watching the position of the sun again and quickening his steps.He suddenly remembered that there was an old woman in Tailifa who could interpret dreams. The old woman led the boy into a room at the back of the house; there was a table, two chairs, and a statue of the Sacred Heart, and her living room could be seen through a curtain of colored beads.The old woman sat down and told the boy to sit down too.Then hold his hands and pray quietly. The old woman prayed like a gypsy.The boy had met gypsies on the road; they traveled too, but without their flocks.It is said that the gypsies live by cheating, and others say that the gypsies deal with the devil and abduct children into their tents as slaves.As a child he had been terrified of gypsies, and now when the gypsy woman took his hand, that fear returned. But she has the Sacred Heart on the wall, the boy thought, trying to keep his heart from shaking, and he didn't want the gypsy woman to see his fear.He secretly recited the Heavenly Father Scripture. "That's interesting," said the woman, never taking her eyes off the boy's hand, and fell into a long silence. The boy tensed up and his hands began to shake, and the woman felt it too.The boy quickly pulled his hand away. "I didn't come to show you palm reading," he said, starting to regret coming here.He thought about whether it would be better to just give her money and get away quickly, because he didn't want to know anything about this dream that occupied him too much. "You came to hope that I could interpret your dreams," said the woman. "Dreams are the language of God. When he speaks in our language, I can interpret, but when he speaks to you in the language of your heart, it is only you." Only then can I understand. However, I can still give you advice and collect bonuses." Another trick, the boy thought, but he decided to try it anyway.Shepherds never let go of any opportunity to fight wolves and drought, and this kind of life will be more exciting. "I had the same dream twice," he said, "that I and my flock were in a meadow, and a child appeared to play with my flock. I never liked it when people did that, because the sheep Children are shy, but children seem to have this ability to play with animals without scaring them. I don't know why, and I don't understand why animals can tell the age of humans." "Tell me more about your dream," the woman said. "I have to go back and cook, and obviously you don't have much money and I can't give you much time." "The kid continued to play with my sheep for a while," the boy continued, a little dejectedly. "Suddenly, the kid took me by the hands and led me to the pyramid." He paused for a moment to see if the woman knew where the pyramid was.But she didn't say anything. "And then, at the pyramids..." He said the words slowly so the woman could understand, "the kid said to me: 'If you can come here, you'll find treasure.' Just as he was about to point out When I saw the location of the treasure, I woke up. It was the same in both dreams." The woman was silent for a while, and then took his hand to study carefully. "I'll charge you nothing now," she said, "but if you find the treasure, I'll give you a tenth." The boy laughed with relief -- so he wouldn't have to lose his meager fortune for a treasure dream. "Okay, interpret the dream for me," he said. "First of all, you have to swear that in the future, I will give you one-tenth of the treasure you will get in order to repay what I said to you." The shepherd swore he would do it.The old woman made him swear again before the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Then she said: "According to the world, this is a dream. I can interpret it, but this dream is very difficult to interpret. That's why I think you must give me a part of the treasure. My interpretation is: You must go to Egypt. Pyramids. I’ve never heard of them, but if a kid did show you these pyramids, they must exist. You’ll find treasure there, and you’ll be rich.” The boy was surprised, then gasped.Who wouldn't say such a thing!But then he remembered that he didn't have to pay the old woman. "I'm not wasting my time listening to you," he said. "As I said, your dreams are more difficult to interpret. The most ordinary things are often the most extraordinary, and only a wise man can understand them. Because I am not a wise man, I also learned other skills, such as palmistry." "Okay, so how do I get to Egypt?" "I only interpret dreams. I don't know how to make dreams come true. That's why I also have to rely on my daughter for meals." "What if I don't go to Egypt?" "Then I won't get my paycheck. It's not the first time anyway." Then the woman told the boy to leave, saying she had wasted too much time with him. The boy was disappointed; he decided not to believe in dreams any more.He remembered that there were still a lot of things to do; go to the market to eat something, change a thicker book.When this was done he sat down on a bench in the square to taste his new wine.It was a hot day, and the wine lifted the spirits.He deposited the flock in the cowshed of a friend at the city gate.He has made many friends in this city.This is what attracts him to travel - he can meet many new friends without spending too much time on them.When you deal with the same people every day, they become part of your life, as he did in seminary.They will ask you to change yourself to accommodate them, and if you are not what they expect, they will not be happy.The vast majority of people seem to have a good idea of ​​how other people should live their lives, but nothing about their own. He decided to wait for the sun to set before driving the animals on the road across the grasslands.Three days later, he was able to meet the merchant's daughter. He began to read the newly acquired book.The first page describes a funeral, and the names of the characters in the book are very difficult to pronounce.If one day he writes a book, he must introduce only one character at a time, so that the reader is not too busy remembering names, he thought. When he finally concentrated his mind, he began to feel that the book was not bad; the funeral was on a snowy day, well, he liked the icy atmosphere brought by the snow.As he continued reading, an old man sat down beside him and accosted him. "What are those people doing?" The old man pointed to a group of people in the square. "Work." The boy replied dryly, trying to show that he was concentrating on his book. In fact, he was visualizing shaving the wool in front of the merchant's daughter so that she would think he was capable of doing difficult things.He had imagined this scene many times, and every time the girl listened to him explain that the wool had to be shaved from the back with fascinated eyes.He also thought about casually mentioning a few interesting shops while explaining the technique of shaving wool.He had read about these stores, but he would describe them as if he had experienced them himself.She will never find out the truth because she cannot read. In the ears, the old man was still trying to talk to him.The old man said he was tired and thirsty and wondered if he could take a sip of the boy's wine.The boy passed the bottle, wishing secretly that the old man would leave him alone. But the old man kept on making noise. He asked the boy what book he was reading.The boy really wanted to scare him away with a rude move, like moving to another stool.However, the boy's father had always taught him to respect his elders.So he picked up the book and let the old man read it by himself.He did this for two reasons. First, he himself was not sure how to pronounce the title of the book; second, if the old man couldn't read it, he might be so ashamed that he would move to another stool by himself. "Hmm..." The old man took the book over, looked left and right, as if it was a strange thing, and said, "This book is very important, but it will be annoying if poisoned." The boy was startled.Unexpectedly, the old man was literate, and he had already read this book.If the book was as tiresome as the old man said, maybe he should get another one before it was too late. "This book is nothing new, just like most other books in the world," the old man continued. "It only describes people's involuntary control of their own destiny, and even ends with the biggest lie in the world." "What's the biggest lie in the world?" the boy blurted out, in utter amazement. "At critical moments in our lives, when we have nothing to do with what happens to us but let it happen to us - that's the biggest lie in the world." "I won't be like that," said the boy. "People want me to be a priest, but I decide to be a shepherd." "That's much better!" said the old man, "because you really like traveling." "He knows what I'm thinking!" thought the boy.At the same time, the old man was flipping through the pages, as if he had no intention of returning the book to him.The boy noticed that the old man's clothes were strange, somewhat Arab.In this area, it is not uncommon for people to wear Arabic clothing.Africa is very close to Tailifa. You only need to cross the narrow strait by boat and you will reach Africa in a few hours.Arabs can often be seen in this city, either doing business or doing strange prayers several times a day. "Where did you come from?" the boy asked. "From several places." "Nobody comes from more than one place," said the boy. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm a shepherd and I've been to many places, but I'm only from one place - a city near some old castle, where I was born." "Well, let's say that I was born in Salem." The boy didn't know where Salem was, but he didn't want to ask, lest he look too ignorant.He stared at the crowd in the square for a while. They came and went, and everyone seemed busy. "How is Salem?" he asked, trying to find some clues. "It's not like that." Still no leads.But he knew that Salem was not located in Andalusia, otherwise he would have heard of this place. "What do you do in Salem?" he continued. " What am I doing in Salem? The old man laughed. "I am the king of Salem." (Note 5)" Humans love to say strange things, the boy thought.Sometimes sheep are far easier to get along with than humans because they can't speak.Even better is to be alone with the book.Books only tell fantastic stories when you want to hear them.However, when you talk to people, they will say things that you don't know what to do next. "My name is Melchizedek," said the old man. "How many sheep do you have?" "Enough," said the boy, and he could see that the old man wanted to know his background. "Well, then I can't help you if you think you've got enough sheep." A rage rose in the boy's heart.He didn't ask for help!It was the old man who came to ask for a sip of wine by himself, and it was the old man who started the chat first. "Give me back the book," said the boy. "I must go and get my sheep on the road." "Give me a tenth of the sheep," said the old man, "and I will tell you how to find the treasure." The boy remembered his dream, and all of this suddenly became clearer.Although the woman didn't collect money from him, the old man—probably her husband—had another way to ask him to spend more money in exchange for information, to find a treasure that didn't exist at all.The old man was probably a gypsy too! But before the boy could say anything, the old man leaned over, picked up a wooden stick, and began to write on the sandy ground of the square.Something shot from his chest with such a blinding light that the boy couldn't see anything for a split second.Then the old man quickly covered what he had just written with his cloak, not as quick as he should have been at his age.When his vision returned to normal, the boy could clearly read what the old man had just written on the sand. Right on the sand in the square of this small city, the boy saw the names of his parents and the name of the seminary where he had studied for some time.He also saw the name of the merchant's daughter--he didn't know it at all; he even saw things he had never told anyone. "I am the king of Salem." The old man once said so. "Why would a king come and talk to a shepherd?" the boy asked, with awe and shame. "There are several reasons. But the most important thing is that you have discovered your destiny." Boys don't know what "destiny" is. "That's what you always want to do. Everyone, when they're young, knows their destiny. At that time, everything is clear, everything is possible. They're not afraid to do it. Dreams, and are not afraid to desire anything that will happen in life. Yet, as the years pass, a mysterious force will convince people that it is impossible to fulfill their destiny." The boy was greatly shocked, but he still wanted to know what that "mysterious power" was.How interested the merchant's daughter would be when he told it to her! "This force may seem negative, but it is actually guiding you to fulfill your destiny. It can temper your spirit and sharpen your will, because this is the greatest truth on this planet; What is it, as long as you really desire something, just let it go, because desire comes from the heart of heaven and earth; because that is your mission in this world.” "Even if all you desire is to travel? Or to marry a cloth merchant's daughter?" "Basically, it is to hunt for treasure. The heart of heaven and earth depends on people's happiness, or misfortune, jealousy, and jealousy. Fulfilling one's destiny is the only duty of everyone in life. Everything has one. And when you really desire something When you do something, the whole universe conspires to help you get it done." The two then fell silent for a while, watching the movement of the crowd in the square.Finally the old man spoke first. "Why would you want to be a shepherd?" "Because I want to travel." The old man pointed to a corner of the square, where a baker was standing by the window of his shop, the old man said, "When he was young, he also wanted to travel, but he decided to buy a bakery first and save some money by his side. In this way, when he is old, he will be able to live in Egypt for a month. He never understood that human beings have the ability to realize their dreams at any stage of life." "He should really be a shepherd," said the boy. "He once thought," said the old man, "but the baker is more important than the shepherd. The baker has his own house, but the shepherd sleeps in the open. Every parent would rather see their own children of men marry the baker, not the shepherd." The boy felt his heart skip a beat, thinking of the merchant's daughter.There must be a baker in her town too. The old man continued: "In the end, what other people think will become more important than one's destiny." The old man turned the pages of the book again, and seemed to intend to read from the page he turned to.After a while, the boy suddenly asked the old man, "Why did you tell me this?" "Because you want to fulfill your destiny, and because you are at a moment when you want to give it up." "And do you always show up at this hour?" "Not necessarily in this way, but I always appear, maybe in this way, maybe in another way. Sometimes I even appear in front of people in the form of answers or inspiration; and in other important At times, I was the catalyst that made things go more smoothly. I did a lot of other things, but most of the hot guys didn't know I did those things." The old man mentioned that a week ago, he appeared in front of a miner in the form of a stone.The miner gave up everything just to mine emeralds.He has been digging in a river for five years, inspecting thousands of ores, just to dig out a piece of emerald.He'd almost given up -- when in fact he only had to dig one more ore, just one more, and he'd find the emerald he was looking for.Because the miner gave up everything to fulfill his destiny, the old man decided to make his wish come true.He turned himself into a stone and rolled at the miner's feet.Five years of pent-up anger and devastation made the miner grab a rock and throw it aside.Under excessive force, the stone knocked down another ore.The ore cracked open, revealing the most beautiful emerald ever seen. "From a very young age people know what they are living for," said the old man, with a certain sarcasm in his tone. "Maybe that's why people give up on it so quickly. It's a pity, but that's how it is." The boy remembered what the old man had said about the treasure. "The treasure is revealed by the force of the running water, but it is the same force that keeps the treasure under the ground." said the old man. "If you want to find your treasure, you must give me a tenth of the sheep. " "What if I pay you a tenth of the treasure?" The old man showed a disdainful expression. "If you start by committing to something you don't even have, you lose the desire to keep going." The boy told the old man that he had promised to give a tenth of the treasure to the gypsy woman who interpreted dreams. "Gypsies are good at this," sighed the old man, "but it's good, you learn that everything in life has a price. That's what the Warrior of Light is trying to tell People's." The old man handed the book back to the boy. "At this time tomorrow, you give me a tenth of your livestock, and I will teach you how to find your treasure. Good afternoon!" The old man disappeared somewhere in the square.