Fountain

The Fountain is a landmark in and, and can be found in both the City and the Town. The town's fountain is also inhabited by Serena. After the player donates 200,000 Bells to the town fund and a bridge has been built, the player can donate an additional 400,000 Bells to the town fund. As a result, a fountain will be built in front of the Bus Stop a week later.

A fountain, adorned with a statue of Serena, can be found within the City Plaza in the City.

In New Leaf, the fountain is one of the many public works projects. It is available by default, costs 99,800 Bells to build, and takes up 4x4 space.

Golden and Silver Axe
If the player throws a regular axe into the town's fountain, the goddess, Serena, will appear and will usually (she occasionally takes the player's axe without doing so) begin to ask the player a variety of questions, including the type of the axe that was thrown into the fountain. Depending on how the player answers her questions, she will either return their regular axe, or she will reward them with a Silver Axe, a Golden Axe, or nothing.

Origin
This may come from a Korean story/legend. In the story, an old man accidentally lost his axe in a lake. He was crying because he was a poor woodcutter and cutting down trees was his only livelihood. Suddenly a goddess appears in the lake and asks what kind of axe he lost. He said it was only axe made of wood and iron. The goddess was impressed by his truthful answer and rewarded him with a gold axe. When he returned home, his jealous and ambitious cousin heard and went to the lake, where he deliberately threw an axe into the lake. As a result, the same goddess appeared and questioned him about his axe. He said it was an axe made of solid gold, when in truth, it was a simple axe. The goddess was disgusted by his lying and swam down, giving him nothing.

Trivia

 * The day the fountain is built, Tortimer can be found standing in front of the newly constructed landmark. Upon talking to the mayor, he will inform the player of the fountain's completion, and that there would be an opening ceremony. However, he tells the player that he uses the term "ceremony" rather loosely, as all of the town's funds have been depleted by the fountain.