The
Legend Of Lake Toba
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.
