Ural is the demiurgic hero at the heart of the Bashkir epic that bears his name. Younger son of the first human pair, Yanbirde and Yanbike, he sets out with his elder brother Shulgen to find the Living Fountain (yanshishma) and to slay Death itself. He tames the winged horse Akbuzat, weds the sky-maiden Humay, and overthrows the man-devouring padishah Katil and the div-king Azraka. Winning at last the water of immortality, he pours it not into his own mouth but over the earth, so that the forests, waters and stones live forever while he, mortal, dies; his body is raised into the Ural Mountains, whose gold and gemstones are said to be his bones and whose springs are the scattered water of life.