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.
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