I read it during the 80 in a book about various myth from around the world. It was not fiction, all other myths were well-known if obscure (like the Maori creation myth of new Zealand by the demigod Maui) For years now, I tried to find what culture , and what religion this was about without finding. ChatGPT never heard of this story. Here is the story as I recall it:
- A child is born from a burning stone (may be cause it came from the sky)
- A God ( could be his mother or father) hold the burning child with tongs
- The child is then placed in a vial containing a liquid granting invincibility
- As the tong hold the child, his hips did not touch the liquid, thus are is weak spot
- A evil man/god try to kill the child by throwing wheel at him from a mountain
- the child (grown up now) block a wheel with his head, then back, but die when he block it with his hip
Did anyone heard about this myth?
Could it be that it isn’t an actual ancient myth, but a modern(ish) story that reinterprets the myth of Achilles in the context of a different culture? Because that is suspiciously similar.
I start to believe the author sneak in one of their story among all other true myth. But that would be kind of unethical in a dictionary about myth aimed at children. I’m pretty sure, they gave the name of a land, since every myth was organized around the land they came from.
Plus the idea of throwing wheels to kill someone, is so random, I’m inclined to think it came from a real mythos.