Lake Toba

            Once, a fisherman named Batara Guru Sahala lived in Batak land. One day he caught a fish. He was surprised to find that fish could talk. It bagged Sahala to let it free. He did accordingly.

            As soon as the fish was free, it changed into a woman. She was so beautiful that Sahala felt in love with at once. He asked her to marry him. The woman agreed to marry Sahala. However, she told him that must never let out the secret that she was once a fish. Sahala promised her that he could not tell anyone about it.

            They were happily married and had two daughters. Every morning Sahala went out fishing. His daughters would bring his lunch. One day, however, instead of bringing the food to their father, the two girls ate it.

            When Sahala knew what they had done with the meal, he got very angry. He shouted at them and saying “You behaved exactly like the daughters of a fish!”

            The daughters didn’t know what their father mean. They went home and asked their mother about it. Their mother was very annoyed. Although Sahala apologized to her later, she would not forgive him breaking his promise.

            Then the earth began to shake, and volcanoes started to erupt. The earth cracked and formed a big hole. People said the hole became lake Toba.