Once upon a time there was a
prosperous village in a far away island called Sumatra. In northern part of the
island, lived a farmer whose name was Toba. He lived alone in a hut by a small
forest. He worked on his farmland to grow rice and vegetables that he sells to
local market. Once day he wanted to catch some fish so he went to a river and
fished there. He was very surprised when he got a big fish. The fish was as big
as human being. Soon he went home and put the fish in his kitchen. He planned
to cook the fish for his dinner that night. When he got to his house that
afternoon he took a bath. Then as he walked into his bedroom after taking a
bath Toba was very shocked. Do you want to know what happened?
There stood in his living room a
very beautiful girl. The girl greeted him nicely. For a moment Toba was
speechless. When he could control his emotion he asked her.
‘Who are you? What’s your name? Why
suddenly you are here in my house?’
‘Pardon me if I surprised you Mr.
Toba, but you took me here. I was the fish that you caught in the river. Now
that I become a human being again, I would like to thank you and I will be your
servant to express my thankfulness’
‘Were you the fish?’
‘Yes, I was the fish. Look at your
kitchen’.
Toba immediately rushed to his
kitchen and the fish was nowhere to be seen. He saw some gold coins instead.
‘Whose coins are these? Why there
are some coins here?’
‘Those coins are mine. As I changed
into human being my scales changed into gold coins’
‘Ok you can live here and work for
me. Your room is over there’
‘Thank you very much Mr. Toba’
Since that day the beautiful girl
lived in Toba’s house. Since she was very beautiful Toba fell in love with her
and not long after that they got married. The girl married to Toba on one
condition that he would never tell anybody about her past. Toba agreed to the
condition. Several months later Toba’s wife delivered to a baby boy. Their son
was healthy. Soon he grew up into a handsome boy. Toba named him Samosir.
Unfortunately Samosir was a lazy boy. He did not want to work at all. When his
father worked hard in his rice field and farm, Samosir just slept. When he was
awake he talked a lot and he ate a lot. Toba was very disappointed with his
son’s nature. He hoped that one day Samosir would change into a diligent boy.
Day in and day out but Samosir never changed.
Toba used to go to his farm and rice
field early in the morning. Then at midday his wife would bring him food. They
used to eat lunch at their farm. As he was a teenager Toba and his wife tried
to change his behavior. They ordered Samosir to bring food for his father for
lunch while her mother stayed at home to do household chores. But Samosir never
did his duty well. He always woke up very late. He woke up after midday. Then
one day his mother forced him to bring the food.
‘Sam, wake up. Go to the farm and
bring the food for your father. He must be very tired and hungry now’.
But Mom, I am tired and hungry too’
‘What makes you tired? You just wake
up. Go now. You father needs the food’
Toba reluctantly went to the farm.
But he did not go to the farm immediately. He stopped somewhere in the street
and ate the food. It was already late afternoon when he got to the farm. His
father was disappointed. Then he was angry as he realized that his son had
eaten his food. He said sarcastically.
‘O, you are stupid lazy boy. You are
son of a fish!’
Samosir was hurt. He went home right
away and as he got home he told his mother about his father’s words. Samosir’s
mother was shocked. She was also deeply hurt.
‘O Toba. You break your promise so I
cannot live with you here anymore. Now you have to accept to consequence of
what you did. Samosir, now go to the hill, find the tallest tree and climb it’
‘Why mom? What will happen?’
‘Just do it, never ask any question.
Good bye’
As soon as she finished saying that
suddenly the weather changed. Sunny day suddenly turned into cloudy day. Not
long after that the rain poured heavily. The rain last for several days.
Consequently the area was flooded. The whole area became a big lake. Then it
was called Lake Toba and in the middle of the lake there is an island called
Samosir Island. Meanwhile Toba’s wife disappeared.
Lake Toba is located in the province
of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Today it becomes a tourist destination.
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