the details of this dream. First, he is in the field with his sheep when a child appears to him. The child then plays with the sheep, which causes him to tell the child to stop. He believes that the sheep don't like strangers. Apparently, the child ignores Santiago in the dream and continues to play with the sheep for a long time. All of a sudden, the child gets up, takes him by both hands, and transports him all the way to the Egyptian pyramids. This is curious to Santiago because in his inexperienced life, he had never even known what the pyramids were; so, having a dream about something he had never seen or known before proves that it is not of his own making. In the dream, the child then says to him, "If you come here, you will find a hidden treasure" (13-14). The dream stops there and Santiago wakes up. The gypsy then postpones payment for the reading and tells him to pay her ten percent when he finds his treasure. 

The dream that Santiago has is Egyptian pyramids and treasure.

Dreams are an important motif in the book.  On a literal level, they are stories we take part in when we sleep.  On a figurative level, they are who we want to be.  Santiago is very dream-conscious.

It’s the possibility of having a dream that makes life interesting. (p. 11)

Santiago is obsessed with his dream, his own Personal Legend, and what it means.  He seeks out mentors, like the old woman and the gentleman, who can explain it.  He travels away from his shepherd’s home to pursue his dream and what it means, only to discover that his dream was waiting for him all along at home.

In Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, Santiago (the boy) has a recurring dream. He believes it is a dream that portends his eventual discovery of a great treasure, especially after speaking to the gypsy in Tarifa. Santiago assumes (with good reason) that he will find treasure at the pyramids in Egypt (which is the place he sees in his dream). When the young man visits the gypsy, he does not yet know about his Personal Legend, watching for omens or speaking the Language of the Universe. He thinks of the treasure only in terms of financial gain.

However, when Melchizedek (the King of Salem) visits Santiago and explains the concept of one's Personal Legend, the boy begins a journey that he does not quite understand. Santiago believes that he will be wealthy in a worldly way, but the dream symbolizes something much greater: it represents the reward that Santiago will receive if he will stick to his goal to realize his Personal Legend, which will involve watching for omens, understanding the natural world around him (speaking the Language of the Universe) and even connecting with the Soul of the World. While Santiago will eventually find a long-lost treasure, he will find his real reward when he finally understands his place in the world, and falls in love.

The dream symbolizes what we can achieve if we don't lose sight of our hopes and if we don't give up, even when we are tempted to. If a person gives himself (or herself) to the universe, he will be rewarded in enormously significant ways—and financial gain will become secondary.

Santiago goes to a gypsy woman for help with interpreting a dream that he has had twice. He learns for the first time of a couple of terms that he learns more about later: the Language of God and the Language of the Soul. She tells him that if God speaks to them in their language, she can do a better job with interpreting those than when God speaks to the soul. 

Santiago then tells her that his dream involves him watching a child play with his herd of sheep. This is strange and makes him a little anxious at first because sheep don't like strangers; but, the sheep seem to be at peace with the child. This is an omen that the child can be trusted because animals can usually sense danger with strangers. This leads the gypsy woman to say the following:

"And this is my interpretation: you must go to the Pyramids in Egypt. I have never heard of them, but, if it was a child who showed them to you, they exist. There you will find a treasure that will make you a rich man"(14).

Children can be symbols of purity and truth, so the gypsy declares that the pyramids and the treasure both exist simply from this. She also tells him that the dream is in the language of the world, so it can be understood with words, but, "It's the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary"(15). This is why the dream seems unusual and why it takes a whole book to understand it.