Santiago, more often referred to as "the boy" in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, becomes a shepherd because he wants to travel the world. When the merchant's daughter and Santiago converse, the girl is first surprised that the boy can read. He tells her that he learned to read in school and she asks, if that's so, why is he "just a shepherd?" Previous to this question, the girl had been complaining of how boring it was to live in her small town every day. The boy had responded with how exciting it was for him to travel around and find out news in other villages. At this point, however, he decides not to answer her question because he believes she won't understand. Instead, he continues to tell her exciting stories of his travels, which contribute to the reasons he loves being a shepherd. However, his experience with the merchant's daughter conflicts with his reason behind the fact that he is a shepherd as described in the following passage:

He recognized that he was feeling something he had never experienced before: the desire to live in one place forever. With the girl with the raven hair, his days would never be the same again. (6)

For the first time, Santiago discovers that a woman, or love, might be a reason not to live a life as a shepherd and travel the world. This unfamiliar feeling that urges him to drop everything for the love of a woman had never crossed his mind before. Thus, because of the merchant's daughter, as shown above, Santiago starts to rethink his life's plan.