The Legend of Lake Toba A Folklore from Medan North Sumatra, Indonesia
Once upon a time, there was a young man named Toba. He lived alone and had no wife. He decided being single and didn’t get married, although his age was mature enough to a family. He had a narrow farm and a small hut not far from a lake. If the day was getting dark, he would go to the lake for shing. He liked shing and he could do this activity until night has come. One day, after worked on his small farm, he decided to go shing. He wanted to look for some sh for his dinner. He waited for a long time, but his hook didn’t catch any sh. He waited and waited patiently. Suddenly, his sh bait made some movement. He was sure he would get a sh for his dinner. nd that was true, a pretty big sh stuck on his bait. He took the sh and then put it on a sh basket. !hen, he went home. He was so happy to get a sh for his dinner. He imagined that his dinner tonight would be nice because the sh was pretty big and fresh. rriving at home, he put his sh basket beside the re place. nd then, he set re of the re place. "ut, he reali#ed that he forgot to look for some woods for his re place. $ithout the woods, of course he couldn’t cook the sh for his dinner. He went out to look for some woods. He left the sh in the kitchen. He didn’t worry about the sh because he was sure that the sh was safe in the place. fter getting some woods, he went back home, but, he was to surprised as the sh basket was empty. !he sh was gone, he %ust found some scales which in the form of gold pieces. !oba was confused. He convinced himself that the gold pieces he hold was the scales of the sh he caught this afternoon. He stepped to his room. "ut, again he was shocked as he saw a beautiful girl with long hair in his room. !he girl sat in toba’s bed. !oba didn’t make any movement. He was so shock and wondered who the girl was. Suddenly the girl turn her head and looked at toba. !oba was so ama#ed with the girl’s beauty. He looked at the girl and admired her beauty. &or some moments, they looked each other. $as that a possibility that this beautiful girl is an angel' toba thought. !oba !oba was so speechless and couldn’t say anything. &or breaking breaking the ice, the the girl said something. She approached toba and said.
(Hi, toba. It was getting dark, could you turn on the lamp) the girl asked. (Ooo* hhhiii* lright, I will turn the lamp on,) !oba said, his body was trmebled because of fear. (+on’t be afraid, !oba. I will not hurt you,) said the girl.
("ut, who are you ' are you kind of genie or something ') !he girl smiled and said. (I am the incarnation of the sh you caught this afternoon,) the girl answered. (eally, Oh.. -od. Is that true') toba was so surprised. (es, but you don’t have to be afraid. I will help you to do some house hold activity. I will cook for you and prepare your daily meal, ) the girl o/ered. !oba was so happy to hear that. ("y the way, the gold pieces is my scales,) the girl said. (Ooo.. well.. that’s why I didn’t found my sh in the basket,) toba said. nd then the girl went to the kitchen and cooked dinner for toba. 0veryday toba was accompanied by the girl. !oba was happy for that. 1ntil one day, he asked the girl to get married. "ut, the girl gave a re2uiretmen. (I am agree to be your wife, but don’t ever tell my secret, my condition that I was a sh,) said the girl. !oba agreed the girl’s re2uiretmen. nd then they got married. !oba was happy to have such a beautiful wife. !hey lived happily because they loved each other. ears gone by. !oba’s wife was pregnant and then not so long after that she gave birth. !oba was so happy. !he baby was a boy. 3amed Samosir. !hey took care their only child. !hey showered the boy with love. It seemed that they were happy family. 4 years later !he mother spoiled the boy too much. 3o wonder, samosir became spoiled child. He didn’t want to help his father to work on farm. He only stayed at home doing nothing. He was a very la#y boy. One day the mother asked samosir to bring lunch for his father who worked in a farm. 1sually the mother did his %ob. "ut, because she was very busy, she didn’t have time to bring the lunch for his husband. (Samosir my dear, please take this lunch for your father in the farm. He must be very hungry now. I can’t bring it for him, there is something else I want to do5) asked the mother. (3o, I can’t5) samosir refused. ($hy, don’t you want ho help me') asked the mother. (I want to play with my frieds, mother5) said samosir. 6other was angry to hear this. She was so upset and threatened samosir if he didn’t do what she’s asked. She wouldn’t give samosir lunch.
"ecause of his mother’s anger, he felt forced to do what his mother’s re2uest. (ll right, mom. I will bring it to my father,) samosir said. Samosir went to his father’s farm. "ut he grumbled continuosly as she wanted to play with his friends. On the way to his father’s farm, he ate the lunch little by little. He felt hungry, too. "ecause of this, there’s %ust a little lunch left. 6eanwhile, the day was getting hot. !oba decided to rest under the tree. He felt thirsty and hungry. He asked himself why his wife didn’t bring lunch for him. $aiting in a hungry was such a terrible thing for !oba. He got angry that time. &inally he saw somebody in a distance. He hoped the somebody was his wife who brought lunch for him. "ut, he was surprised to see samosir, his son, who came to the farm. ($hat do you do here, my son. $here is your mother' $hy she didn’t bring my lunch') !oba said angrily. (6other is busy to do other things. So, she asked me to bring this lunch for you) said Samosir while gave the lunch to his father. !oba took the lunch 2uickly as he couldn’t bear his hunger anymore. "ut, when he saw the lunch bo7, he was surprised. !he lunch was no more left. ($hat' $here is the lunch ' $hy this bo7 is empty ') !oba said angrily. (I am sorry, father. On the way here, I ate your lunch little by little. I am so hungry.) Samosir answered with an7iety. (ou’re really a bad boy. $hy are you doing this ' I am really hungry, you know ' ) !oba snapped at Samosir. (I am sorry, dad. I am really sorry for that5) Samosir said apologi#e. (ou are rebellious child. ou are la#y, useless555) !oba got angry. He felt really upset whit his son. nd, suddenly he said something rude that actually was forbidden. (our manner is like a little animal. It is because your mother spoiled you. ou are so naughty. $ell, it is because your mother is a sh. So you are like her. -o away from here) !oba didn’t reali#e that what he said was so rude. He was forbidden to tell about Samosir’s mother’s origin. Samosir was so sad to hear what his father’s said. He was badly hurt. He cried continuosly. His mother asked why Samosir cried. Samosir said that his father was angry to him. It’s because he ate his father’s lunch. Samosir also told what his father had said to him. (&ather said that I was a little animal because I didn’t obey his advice and he also said that mother is a sh.) Samosir said this to his mother. ($hat ''' How e7cessive he is5 He was not supposed to tell that to you. ou are his
son. I will tell him.) !he beautiful girl was so angry. ($hy he’s so rude to his own child. He promised that he wouldn’t tell my origin. $hy he did this to me.) !he beautiful girl said sadly. (8alm down, Samosir. +on’t cry anymore. 3ow, all you have to do is climb the highest tree and stay there. !here will be a huge 9ood and this velley will be sink and disappear. !here will be great disaster here,) the beautiful girl said. (eally, mother 5 How do you know ') Samosir asked. ($ell, you must obey my advice without complaining ) the beautiful girl told his son. fter that, Samosir went away and climbed the highest tree in the village. He stayed there, obeyed his mother’s instruction. He still didn’t know why his mother told him to do this. He %ust waited what happened ne7t. !he beautiful girl was really sad. He thought that !oba didn’t love her anymore. !oba was changed. He broke his promise to her. So, the girl thought there was no use she lived. She decided to do suicide by %umping to a lake. Suddenly, the sky was getting dark upon the valley. 3ot so long after that, the rain poured the earth. It was a huge rain. !he thunder and the lightning were so scary. !he rain was so heavy and make a huge 9ood. !he valley was like a sea. :ust as the girl said, there was a great disaster in that village. 6eanwhile, !oba, who was still in his farm shocked with this disaster. He couldn’t save himself. He was drown by the 9ood and nally died. nd, the spoiled child, Samosir, although he climbed the highest tree, he still couldn’t save himself from this great disaster. He died as his parents. His body was 9oating. nd then baceme small island which now was called Samosir Island. nd, the village was sink and became a huge lake. !his lake was named as !oba’s name, that is Lake Toba. ;ake toba is located in 3orth Sumatra.
Legend of Lake Toba I was cleaning up my old stuff that I brought from Indonesia the other day and found one tornapart book. That was my elementary school book!! I went through pages and remember that one of my teachers used to give us assignment to write tales/legends/fables and present it in front of the
class,
oh
my
God
I
still
remember
those
groggy
moments
nyway, one of the story" I presented at that time was about the legend of #anau Toba/$ake Toba, here goes the tale%
&nce upon a time there was a man living in the area of the present day #anau Toba '$ake Toba(. )e lived in a simple hut in a farming field, did some gardening and fishing for his daily life. &ne day he caught a big golden fish in his trap. It was the biggest catch he ever had in his life. *ack home this fish turned into a beautiful princess. )e felt in love with her and proposed her to be his wife. +he said yes with one condition% the man had to promise not to tell a soul about the secret that she was once a fish, otherwise there would be a huge disaster. The man made the deal and they got married and had a daughter. ew years later, this daughter would help bringing lunch to her father out in the fields. &ne day, this daughter was so hungry and she ate his father"s lunch. )e found out and got furious, and shouted ou damned daughter of a fish. The daughter ran home and asked her mother. The mother started crying, felt sad that her husband had broke his promise. +he told her daughter to run up the hills because a huge disaster was about to come. 0hen her daughter left, she prayed. +oon there was a big earth1uake followed by non-stop pouring rain. The princess also ran from the house, and each footprint she left became a natural spring. The whole area got flooded and became $ake Toba. The princess turned into a fish again and the man became the island of +amosir 'the big island in the middle of $ake Toba(.
There are tons of tales from 2orth +umatra that I learned from my parents and relatives. *ack then I used to believe that every place, every river, every house, every stone, every banyan tree had
their
own
story
that
would
wow
us
as
kids
)mm I should find that tale about )utabarat woman who got curse because she felt in love with a snake%
