The Grateful Snake of Phewa Lake

On the western shore of Phewa Lake, where the Annapurna range hangs like a mirror image in the water, there once lived a fisherman named Harka. He was poor but gentle, and he never took more from the lake than his family needed.

One morning his net pulled up not fish but a great golden snake, coiled and glistening, with a gemstone on its hood that blazed like a lamp. Any other man would have killed it for the jewel. Harka carefully freed the snake from the mesh and released it back into the dark water.

That night a woman in golden cloth came to his door. "I am the spirit of this lake," she said. "You showed mercy to my servant. Ask me one thing."

Harka thought of his sick daughter, his leaking boat, his empty granary. He was quiet for a long time.

"I ask only that the lake stay clean," he said at last, "so that my children and their children can fish here as I have."

The spirit smiled — a strange, wide smile that showed too many teeth. In the morning, Harka found his boat repaired