The Iron Man

The world tree connects the seven worlds, one to another.  In our world, there was once a hero, who desired to destroy a magical golden bird.  The bird flew higher, and the man climbed the world tree, up and up.  Just when he reached the bird, the bird turned into a great cat, and the hero was unable to catch him.  So higher they went, until the hero was once more about to lay hands on the great cat, but the cat turned into a deer, and the deer climbed higher still.  The hero pursued, and just as he was about to lay hands on the deer, the deer turned into a beautiful maiden.  The hero instantly stopped, and was so overcome with love, that he asked her to marry him.

"I will marry you," she said, "but you must help me, first."

"I will do whatever you ask of me," was his reply.

"My world is too hot in the day, and too cold in the evening.  This is because there are two suns, and two moons.  You must destroy both one sun and one moon, and then I will marry you."

So the hero climbed the tree, but as he neared the suns, it became too hot.  So he waited until nightfall, and climbed higher still, but it grew too cold.  The hero knew that he could not do this task on his own, so he climbed down the tree and sought out aid from the sea.

He told the sea about his task, and how he was unable to win the maiden's hand unless he could accomplish this difficult feat.  The sea bade him to climb into a cauldron, and the hero did so.  The sea heated the cauldron until it boiled inside, and the man was consumed by the heat, melted into many different parts.  The sea then took those parts and forged a new man, a man made of iron.  In his hand was an iron bow, with iron arrows.

The iron man climbed the tree, unaffected by the heat and cold.  When he reached the top, he shot his arrow at the second sun, and it quickly extinguished.  When night fell, he shot another arrow at the second moon, and it, too, was extinguished.  The iron man climbed down the tree, and returned to our world, where it was now neither too hot nor too cold.  He found his maiden, who married him.

-From Siberian folklore