Once when a garuda was hungry he captured a naga and flew off with him. As he swept over the Himavat forest, clutching the head of the great snake in his claws, the naga was able to coil himself around a tall banyan tree. But the strength of the garuda was such that the tree was torn from its roots as he flew on. After he had devoured the naga, the garuda remembered that the banyan tree had sheltered the hut of a hermit, and he feared that his unwitting deed might bring misfortune upon himself. He returned to the hermit's hut to ask him and was assured that he would suffer no ill on this account, for his action was not intended to harm. Pleased by this answer, the garuda rewarded the hermit by telling him the words of a magic snake charm of great power and gave him a fan behind which to chant it.