"The Lake" is a short story by American author Ray Bradbury. It was first published in the May 1944 edition of Weird Tales, and later collected in Bradbury's collections Dark Carnival, The October Country, and The Stories of Ray Bradbury. In an article written by Bradbury called "Run Fast, Stand Still" which was later collected in his book Zen in the Art of Writing, "The Lake" was written in two hours and led to him believing it was the finest story he'd ever written at that point in time. Source: Wikipedia (en)