Ilmarinen's bride quest

Ilmarinen the Smith, a young companion of Vainamöinen and a wizard in his own right, loved the daughter of Louhi, Sorceress of the North. The maiden loved him, too, but Louhi made the wooming a rough one.

She charged the young man to defy death three times to win his bride. His first trial was to plow a field full of adders. Shod in iron and guiding a golden plow, Ilmarinen furrowed the adder-ridden ground, singing the serpents out of his path. Then he entered the lands of the dead, seeking a bear and a wolf there, with magic bridles, he took the beasts to Louhi.

Lastly, from that same bleak region, the smith obtained a malevolent fish, as the sorceress demanded, capturing it with an eagle he forged and charmed to life. Thus Ilmarinen bested Louhi and had her daughter for his bride.