L15A — Vulnerable spot on the body,

The character's vulnerable spot is located on the surface of the body, but not in vital internal organs.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.

L15a.  The character's vulnerable spot is located on the surface of the body, but not in vital internal organs.
L15a1.  The character's vulnerable spot is located at the bottom of the foot (heel, toe, sole, ankle).
L15a2.  The human body is tempered (in a furnace, etc.) to make it invulnerable, but one place remains unprotected.
L15b.  The character can only be killed with a specific plant, which is not usually used for making weapons.
L15b1.  In the battle between positive and negative creators, the positive one chooses the deer horn as a weapon – usually because this is the only weapon that the enemy fears.
L15c.  A dangerous character asks the hero how he can be killed, what he is afraid of. The hero lies, saying that the named object does not harm him.
L15c1.  A dangerous character naively reveals what he fears or what his life consists of, and the hero takes advantage of this.
L15d.  The object in which the character's life is concentrated is separate from him. The character dies when this external form is destroyed.
L15d1.  When a character is asked to reveal the location of his soul (death, power), he first gives an incorrect answer, and the questioner usually begins to show signs of attention to the corresponding locus or object.
L15e.  The hero's life is in a certain object, usually his weapon. An enemy steals or discards this object, the hero weakens or dies, his friends or brothers return the object, and the hero comes back to life. {In ATU, this is motif 302B; at least some of the references cited by Uther do not contain the motif in our formulation (not found in Japan or Burma); original publications are required}.
L15e1.  An ageing character and/or one who senses his death approaching instructs his son, a warrior, or his subjects to throw his cold weapon (sword, sabre or axe) into the sea, a lake or a river. Cf. motifs L15E and L15e2.
L15e2.  One character instructs another to throw a certain object (usually a sword or sabre) into the water. The messenger claims to have carried out the task, but cannot say what happened as a result, so it becomes clear that he has lied.
L15f.  A young woman or man dies as soon as her or his jewellery (rarely: organ) is stolen, and comes back to life when the jewellery is returned or when the antagonist removes it.
L15g.  A person's life is connected to an object that can be burned. As soon as the object is burned, the person dies.
L15g1.  A person knows a secret on which the life of a loved one (husband, son, wife) depends and, after a quarrel, commits an act that is insignificant to an outside observer but leads to the immediate death of the other.
L15h.  The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third, and so on (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a chest). Or the animal in which the character's soul is enclosed transforms into other animals as it flees. There are three or more enclosures or transformations.
L15h1.  The object in which the character's life is contained is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final container of the soul is an egg (to kill the character, the egg must be broken over his head).
l15h2.  The object in which the character's life is contained is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final repository of the soul is a bird (a chick, several birds or chicks).
l15h3.  The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final vessel of the soul is an insect or worm.
l15h4.  The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final container of the soul is a needle, which the hero breaks.
L15i.  A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends to) if his hair is cut or pulled out.
L15J.  The character can only be killed by fire.

This motif has been recorded in 114 traditions: Mongo (Mongo-Nkundu), Nkundu, Ngelima, Ngombe, (Ba)Tetela), Pende, Wu(Kusu), (Ba)Mbala (incl Saie, Kwilu), Melanesians and Papuans of Central Solomons: Vella la Vella (Bilua language), Shortland islands (Mono language), San Cristobal, Saint Georgia, Eddystone, Vangunu, Southern Solomons: southern part of Santa Ysabel (Bughotu), Guadalcanal, San Cristobal, Malaita, Ulawa, Batak (Toba, Dairi), Sinhalese; Vedda, Ireland, Scotland, Scots, Picts, Scotti, Scottish, Ancient Greece, Armenians, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Mongols (Khalkha), Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Nenets, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Udeghe, Nanai, Chuvans, Russian-speaking Creols of Markovo, Chukchi, Chipewyan, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Eyak, Tlingit, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Micmac, Wawenock, Abenaki, Penobscot, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Montagnais, Menominee, Huron (incl Wyandot), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Teton (incl Oglala), Santee, Iowa, Arikara, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Crow, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Tillamook, Takelma, Coos, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Shasta; Chimariko, Karok, Hupa, Chilula, Klamath, Modoc, Yurok, Caddo, Alabama, Koasati, Cherokee, Pomo, Wintu, Patwin, Nomlaki, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Sierra Miwok, Lake Miwok, Plains Miwok, Coastal Miwok, Yana, Yokuts, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Southern Paiute, Serrano, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Lipan, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Warao, Trio, Wayana, Aparai, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Xipaya, Bolivian Guarani: Chiriguano (including assimilated Chane Arawaks), Pauserna (=Guarasu), Guarayu, Tapiete, Rikbaktsa, Iranxe, Nambikwara, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Sanapana, Lengua (incl Angaite), Chamacoco (Ishir), Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Chorote, Toba (incl Pilagá), Terena (Tereno) , Northern and Southern Tehuelche, Yamana (Yaghan), Alacaluf, Biloxi, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Mustang, Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Russian Federation