To win the maiden of the North Farm, Lemminkainen must perform three tasks: he must hunt down the Demon’s Reindeer, overcome the Demon’s fire-breathing Gelding, and shoot the black swan that lives on Tuonela, the River of Death. The hero successfully achieves the first two tasks, but when he goes down to the river, he is ambushed and killed by the evil cowherd, Soppy Hat, who throws his body into the water where Death’s sons cut it to pieces. But Lemminkainen’s mother receives a sign of her son’s death. She goes to Tuonela, where she rakes the pieces of her son’s body out of the river. She anoints Lemminkainen’s limbs with an ointment from Heaven, sews them together, and brings him back to life.

-- The Kalevala, Cantos 11-15