Shortly after arriving in Tangier, Santiago is robbed. He trusted someone he should not have, and lost all the money from selling his flock. He is in a foreign city, cannot speak the language, and has nothing left. Coelho does not present this as a disaster. He presents it as tuition. The book's argument is that every dream has a price, and the price is usually paid before you can see whether the dream was worth it. The setbacks that come early are not signs you chose the wrong path. They are the path. Santiago gets a job at a crystal merchant's shop and slowly rebuilds. He learns more from that year of work than he would have from a smooth journey. The crystal merchant himself is a counterpoint: a man who dreamed of going to Mecca but never went, because he was afraid that achieving the dream would leave him with nothing to live for. Coelho shows us what the unlived dream costs: a lifetime of wondering.