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.
