his Roman equivalent , also has his workshop under Mount Etna . In Norse mythology , the dwarves who fashion Odin ’ s spear and Thor ’ s hammer live underground in their realm of Svartalfheim . Neil Gaiman , in his amusing retelling of the story “ The Treasures of the Gods ,” recounts how Loki , because he has stolen the golden hair of the goddess Sif , must visit the sons of Ivaldi and the brothers Eitri and Brokk , both to find a way to replace Sif ’ s hair and to placate Thor ( Sif ’ s husband ), Odin , and Frey . The dwarves present not only Odin with his spear and Thor with his famous hammer , Mjollnir , but also Frey with a ship that folds into a pocket handkerchief , and a bristling golden boar to pull his chariot . And of course , they bring new hair for Sif .
Out of this central image spring the two main storylines surrounding the Blacksmith . The first storyline may have him on a quest to transform baser materials to gold . This goal is the life ’ s work of the alchemist , perhaps most famously achieved by Nicholas Flamel with his philosopher ’ s stone , which turns all metals into gold and grants immortality . The legends of Flamel have influenced popular works such as Dan Brown ’ s The Da Vinci Code , J . K . Rowling ’ s Harry Potter and the Philosopher ’ s Stone , and Michael Scott ’ s bestselling series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel . The image of the philosopher ’ s stone may derive from one of humankind ’ s most important tools — the flintstone . For millennia , the flintstone was a prime method by which humankind ignited fire , and thus it was considered to have magical properties . In one Russian fairy tale , for example , a flintstone contains a steed that helps the hero on his quest ( Propp , loc . 1057-62 ). Because the flintstone can produce something so at odds with itself — flame out of rock , living fire out of dead matter — it represents , in some cultures , divinity appearing on earth ( von Franz 291 ). Western alchemists spoke of the stone as having a spirit in it , a spirit they magnified in their quest for the philosopher ’ s stone , which also has spiritual power ( 291 ).
The lead-to-gold story , however , may appear in a displaced form — and perhaps with an outcome unforeseen by the protagonist . Nathaniel Hawthorne ’ s short story “ The Birthmark ,” for example , has a scientist becoming increasingly obsessed with the hand-shaped birthmark on his wife ’ s face . He works unceasingly to remove the birthmark , and even convinces his wife to assist him . Yet when he succeeds , he loses her , the birthmark proving to be the tie between her spirit and her body . Another such story comes to us in the tale “ Rumpelstiltskin .” The little man appears out of nowhere to help the poor girl whose father has bragged about her ability to spin straw into gold . The little man helps her — but eventually at the price of her firstborn son when she becomes queen . At the end , however , he is cheated of
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