Once upon a time there was a prosperous village in a faraway
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.
One day the farmer 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. 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 Samosir was a teenager Toba and his wife tried to change his
behaviour. 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.”
Samosir 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 flooded 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.
-FIN-
Read the Indonesian translation HERE
Author: Unknown
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