The story goes something like this:
Once upon a time a small boy called Mane (which means “heart” in Nepalese) lived in a palace. He lived all alone as his mother and father had died when he was a baby. Many people had visited over the years to try to take the palace from Mane, saying that they were his long lost relatives. When he was nearly ten years old a man called Hurry (this is a river name in the Kathmandu valley) came to the palace and told him many things about his family history that made Mane believe that he was his long lost uncle from the south. However what Mane did not know was that this man was no telling the truth and had only worked for his family when he was a baby.
Hurry and his wife took the palace and plotted to kill Mane by hiring two Hench-men. The Hench-men gagged Mane and tying him up them through him into the Bagmahati (the largest river of Kathmandu). Thinking he was dead the Hurry household told everyone in the valley of their great sorrow at the loss of Mane and they inherited the palace and laid on a great ceremony in honour of his past and sadly short life.
Meanwhile in the river Mane sank to the bottom where he was seen by the fish people. The fish princess was very surprised that he was still alive and thought him very beautiful and took him to the fish palace. When Mane opened his eyes he could see lots of jewels and a beautiful garden with a golden waterfall. His bed was made of partic (this is a special local stone that purifies water) and he was surround by fifty beautiful fish maidens. He was afraid saying “where am I?”, but the fish princess told him to be calm and that all is ok. This is what happened and Mane and the Fish Princess played for many years and fell in love.
The fish princess and Mane decided that they would get married, but when the fish princess took Mane to her father the king he said that he would kill him, because he was the son of man. However on reflection the king wondered whether Mane could help him? The Fish King said that if Mane could kill Serpent Raja (the King of Snakes) then he could be his son. Mane was worried that he could not do this so he went back to the land to discover what he could do. There he found an old friend Manuhar (the name of a river in the valley) and asked him what to do. He said that he should employ the help of the giant Narimouso (this is a mythical Nepalese beast, like a cross between a rat and a lizard. In Nepalese there is often a confrontation between a rat, a frog and a snake. Even though they are all fierce animals when they are all together they can do nothing, because they all eat each other in a big circle, so therefore the stale-mate means that nothing can go wrong in life). The giant rat went into the river and ate all the snake army and the snake king.
The king of the fish was very pleased and said that his daughter could marry Mane and that he could have all his land and jewels. Over the years back on the land the Hench men had stolen the entire palace so the Hurry’s were now poor. After some time Mane and his Fish Queen visited the people of the land and the Hurry couple were so surprised to see them that they dropped dead on the spot.
