The theme of patience is a lesson Santiago does not truly master until the end of the novel although the lessons begin immediately—truly, even before the novel begins. Santiago has had to learn patience as a shepherd, gently urging his flock in the direction he wants them to follow. When he decides to have his dream interpreted, his patience is challenged because he is not immediately given the answers he wants to hear. His patience is tested in the merchant’s shop, where he must tarry for a full year before being able to move onward. As he moves across the desert, “he could not be hasty, or impatient. If he pushed forward impulsively, he would fail to see the signs and omens by God left along his path.” When Santiago is tantalizingly close to the oasis, he has to eat and rest before arriving, something he does not wish to do but must at the command of the caravan’s leader. The arrival at the pyramids continues the test of Santiago’s patience, but now he has mastered this art. He does not balk or complain about having to travel all the way back to his original starting point but joyfully receives the news and heads back home.