Nyalmu, The Wild Man

Once upon a time a group of villagers on their way to the frontier town of Kuti in Tibet to exchange their grain for salt came to a cave not far from where the village of Melamchi stands today in the mountains of Helambu. As the sun was setting, the men decided to spend the night in the cave.

The men lighted a fire at the entrance to the cave. They cooked their supper and after they had eaten, they lay down to sleep. Soon they were all asleep except one man who thought it would be safer outside the cave than inside it. He went to the foot of a tree and made himself comfortable.

Before long a nyalmu, or wild man, came to the cave and seeing the men asleep, he pulled up a young pine tree and prepared to kill all of them. But, as he looked closer, he was a bit puzzled.

"There are nine loads but only eight men," he said to himself, "How can it be?"

While he was trying to fathom the mystery, the man who had stayed outside the cave took up a large rock and threw it into the fire, sending sparks flying in all directions. Afraid that the flying sparks would catch on his hairy body, the nyalmu left, leaving the men unharmed.