The Fifth Mountain     by Paulo Coelho, Translated by Clifford E. Landers Original title: Quinta montanha Original language: Portuguese Country: Brazil   Published by HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 1999 Pub. Place: USA Format: Paperback, 245 pages Dimensions: (in inches): 0.60 x 8.08 x 5.36 ISBN: 0060930136 Edition: First Harper Perennial Edition List Price: $13.00, £12.99 Buy online from Amazon.co.uk for £13.00 Buy online from Amazon.com for $10.40

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The book begins with a reference to The Alchemist and Coelho repeats the central thesis of his first book, ‘When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it’. In a sense, The Fifth Mountain is a sequel, for, although the content is different, it shares this philosophical perspective. Like other books that Paulo Coelho has written before, The Fifth Mountain is about how to to accept and carry the responsibility of living out one’s own life or ‘destiny’.

He uses the figure of the Biblical prophet Elijah to illustrate his ideas. Elijah set out the conditions for the coming of the Messiah, and eventually, after he was thoroughly tested was sent up to Heaven in a winged chariot of fire. His mission from God was to restore His worship in the Land of Israel, for the king there had married a foreign princess, Jezebel, who was introducing her own (Phoenician) gods to the people.

Though of interest for its biblical content and the imaginative use of the main story and of other biblical figures like Moses and Jacob, Coelho’s philosophical argument sometimes founders on its religiosity, the book actually ending with a prayer. Despite this zealousness and the simplistic prose, The Fifth Mountain still delivers a powerful message. Only by confronting what is most important to you, and thereby confronting yourself at your most vulnerable, can you scale the wall of frustrations that keeps you from what you want most, that which gives your life meaning. Only by lighting the fire within and burning can we build.

The book’s title refers to Jezebel’s Phoenician god, Baal, who is believed to live atop the Fifth Mountain. The worshippers of Baal believe there to be a fire where the gods dwell, but that no-one has climbed for fear of the fire.

It was difficult to arrange a meeting with King Ahab, many generations before, with the ascension of King Samuel to the throne, the prophets had gained importance in commerce and in government. They could marry, have children, but they must always be at the Lord’s disposal so that rulers would never stray from the correct path. Tradition held that thanks to these ‘exalted of God’ many battles had been won, and that Israel survived because its rulers, when they did stray from the path of righteousness, always had a prophet to lead them back to the way of the Lord.

Arriving at the palace, he told the King that a drought would assail the region until worship of the Phoenician gods was forsaken.

The sovereign gave little importance to his words, but Jezebel — who was at Ahab’s side and listened attentively to what Elijah was saying — began to ask a series of questions about the message. Elijah told her of the vision, of the pain in his head, of the sensation that time had stopped as he listened to the angel. As he described what had happened, he was able to observe closely the princess of whom all were talking; she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, with long, dark hair falling to the waist of a perfectly contoured body. Her green eyes, which shone in her dark face, remained fixed on Elijah’s; he was unable to decipher what they meant, nor could he know the impact they were causing.

He left convinced that he had carried out his mission and could go back to his work in the carpentry shop. On his way, he desired Jezebel, with all the ardor of his twenty-three years. And he asked God whether in the future he could find a woman from Lebanon, for they were beautiful with their dark skin and green eyes full of mystery. He worked for the rest of the day and slept peacefully. The next morning he was awakened before dawn by the Levite; Jezebel had convinced the king that the prophets were a menace to the growth and expansion of Isreal. Ahab’s soldiers had orders to execute all who refused to abandon the sacred task that God had conferred upon them.

To Elijah alone, however, no right of choice had been given: he was to be killed.

He and the Levite spent two days hidden in the stable south of Gilead while 450 nabi [Hebrew, ‘prophets’ ed.] were summarily executed. But most of the prophets, who roamed the streets flagellating themselves and preaching the end of the world for its corruption and lack of faith, had accepted conversion to the new religion. 13-14