or negative.  The water has the ability to uncover the treasure and cover the treasure.  

The story of the miner is the exact same illustration except the old man uses stones instead of water.  In the story, a miner has been looking for a beautiful emerald for five years.  He is ready to give up.  Out of frustration he throws a rock at another rock.  The second rock splits open to reveal the emerald.  

But he had thrown it with such force that it broke the stone it fell upon, and there, embedded in the broken stone, was the most beautiful emerald in the world.

The story shows how the emerald was hidden by rocks, and how it was revealed with rocks.  It shows a duality of rocks. 

The point of both stories is the same.  The old man is emphasizing to Santiago the importance of staying vigilant and watching out for the omens that will show him to his treasure.  

In order to find the treasure, you will have to follow the omens. God has prepared a path for everyone to follow. You just have to read the omens that he left for you.

This story is meant to help Santiago understand about personal legends, which, he is told by Melchizedek, we all have all our lives. This story reveals the paradox that while forces of life uncover the treasure of our personal legend, those same life forces cover that treasure back up again. This is meant to suggest that one has to be ever vigilant in looking for and pursuing the signs of their personal legend lest the forces that reveal them are stronger than the signs and cover them back up again, as happens when we put off pursuing the sings, eventually losing the opportunity altogether, as in the story of the baker who deferred pursuit and lost the chance. 

In the story of the emeralds, a man knows it is his personal destiny to dig in a riverbank for emeralds. Just as he is about to give up after five years of fruitless labor, the old man telling Santiago the story turns himself into a plain stone and rolls it at the feet of the man mining for emeralds. Even though the stone comes right to him, the miner throws it away in disgust and does not stop to see that it breaks open to show the most beautiful emerald in the world.

The old man tells Santiago this story to encourage him to continue to seek his personal destiny. The old man says that everyone is born with a destiny but most give up on achieving it too soon.

When Santiago reminds the old man that he had mentioned buried treasure, the old man tells him that:

Treasure is uncovered by the force of flowing water, and it is buried by the same currents.

The next day the old man says that our destiny comes to us most readily and easily at first, like a form of beginner's luck. This is the treasure uncovered by the force of flowing water. However, if we miss it the first time, it can become harder to uncover, as the current that came toward us will keep on moving. Not only do you need to keep trying, you need to keep your eyes open so that you don't miss your destiny when it arrives.