μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Achilles heel. Invulnerability except in one spot.

Miscellaneous groups of motifs. · Unique exceptions · Unique vulnerability. · view the constellation · filed as Z311

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“When the elder sister saw that the rabbit had all been eaten, she became very angry, and said, “Now I have a mind to kill you.” So the little sister arose quickly, took her little brother on her back, and said, “I am going out to look for wood.”’ As she went out, she followed the narrow trail through the prickly-pears and met her six brothers in the brush. Then they decided to leave the country, and started off as fast as they could go.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 64 · served from our shelf  receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions
On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters
  • GreekThe Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK III, ch. XIIIThompson cites: *Basset RTP XXV 124 n. 1, Frazer Apollodorus II 60 n. 2, 214 n. 1
Scholars’ trail — 12references

The index’s own references — the collections where scholars sighted this story-shape, tradition by tradition. Titles on our shelf are live links; the rest is the frontier, not yet shelved.

  • WelshMacCulloch Celtic 97
  • Icelandic*Boberg
  • NorseDe la Saussaye 144, Von Sydow Fåvne 27ff.
  • French CanadianBarbeau JAFL XXIX 11
  • Greek*Basset RTP XXV 124 n. 1, Frazer Apollodorus II 60 n. 2, 214 n. 1 → on our shelf: The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK III, ch. XIII
  • Jewish*Neuman
  • HinduKeith 125, Penzer I 127
  • SiberianHolmberg Siberian 389
  • Eskimo (Mackenzie Area)Jenness 67
  • N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 345 n. 246
  • AfricaWerner African 236, (Fang): Trilles 202.
  • general **DeCock Studien 153ff. Irish myth: *Cross
Within the index

Filed under Unique vulnerability.

4 finer motifs beneath it
Left eye only vulnerable spotSpot below right ear only vulnerable oneLeprosy cured by holy water except on thumbMan can be injured only in armpits
Filed beside it
Unique deadly weapon. Only one thing will kill a certain manVulnerability only by one personSword which will break in only one peril: this known only to the maker of the swordOgre vulnerable only when his face is turned away when he is struckOnly one way to besiege certain city
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Bear paramour. (Cf. B601.1., B631, B635.)Transformation: man to wild beast (mammal)Transformation: man to tigerTransformation: man to cuttlefishTransformation: man to serpent (snake). (Cf. B642.1.)Repeated transformation. Transformation into one form after anotherMagic meatMagic swordMagic strength-giving food. (Cf. D1030.)Immortality by burningThe SoulVital bodily members. They possess life independent of the rest of the body. (Cf. F1096.)

wander