What is the story of the Baker in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho?

The baker's
story is Melchizedek's life lesson
to Santiago about the fleeting nature of life and the need to
"seize the day"
while one still has the passion to experience fulfillment. Melchizedek
warns
the boy to persist and pursue his Personal Legend (his destiny, his fate, or the story
his
life is supposed to follow). Santiago must make decisions about his
future and act in the
present. The baker chooses to play life safely: he
saves his money for travel and will wait
until he is old, despite his strong
lifelong desire to see Africa. This theme is echoed later in
the story in the
shape of the crystal merchant, who knows he must visit Mecca as an obligation

to Islam. He hesitates to go, because once his dream of Mecca becomes real, he will have
no
"reason to go on living" (Coelho 55).

The boy is
exposed to these
stories and characters so that he will fulfill his desires
and become the man he is destined to
be.

Coelho, Paolo.
. San Francisco: Harper Collins.

1993.