LakeToba

Once upon a time, there was a man who was living in north Sumatra. He lived in a simple
hut in a farming field. The did some gardening and fishing for his daily life.
One day, while the man was do fishing, he caught a big golden fish in his trap. It was the
biggest catch which he ever had in his life. Surprisingly, this fish turned into a beautiful princess.
He felt in love with her and proposed her to be his wife. She said; "Yes, but you have to promise
not to tell anyone about the secret that I was once a fish, otherwise there will be a huge disaster".
The man made the deal and they got married, lived happily and had a daughter.
Few years later, this daughter would help bringing lunch to her father out in the fields. One
day, his daughter was so hungry and she ate his father’s lunch. Unfortunately, he found out and
got furious, and shouted; “You 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.
Then she told her daughter to run up the hills because a huge disaster was about to come.
When her daughter left, she prayed. Soon there was a big earthquake followed by non-stop
pouring rain. The whole area got flooded and became Toba Lake. She turned into a fish again
and the man became the island of Samosir.

“GOLDEN EGGS”

Long time ago a remote village, in central China was inhabited mainly with farmers and hunters.
One day, a poor farmer lost his entire livestock to flood. He prayed hard to God for help or his
family would die of starvation.
Few days later, an old man with long grey beard, passed by his house took pity on him. He gave
him a goose and said “ I don’t have any expensive thing to give you and hope this goose will
help you to ease your hardship.”
A week later to almost surprise the farmer found and egg in his yard. This was no ordinary egg.
It was a golden egg. He was suddenly overcome with joy.
Thereafter, his livelihood had rapidly improved but the farmer had forgotten his earlier hardship.
He became lazy, arrogant and spendthrift.
Strangely, the goose only laid one golden egg every six months. The greedy farmer lost his
patient and slaughtered his goose thinking there were plenty of golden eggs inside its stomach.
Though he very much regretted for his foolishness, it’s already too late.

HERMIT

Many years ago, there lived a hermit in a forest in Sumatra. He did not grow food but depended
on the jungle fruit to survive. Soon, there was a drought, and all the plants and fruit trees in the
jungle died.

The old man had nothing to eat now, so he turned to begging. He went to a nearby village trying
to get some food. At first, the villagers were happy to help him. However, when he came
continually, they refused to give him any more food. They told him to grow his own food.
One day, while the hermit was sitting in his hut, sad and hungry, he began to think about
growing his own food. Just then, a boatman stopped by and taking a pity on hermit gave him
some “paddy” seeds.

Before the boatman went away, he said, “These seeds will grow and give you everlasting harvest
if you work very hard. If you are tired of the work, the “paddy” plants will turn into weeds.”

The old hermit worked hard to clear the land and sowed the seeds before the rain came.
Strangely, after a short period of time, the “paddy” was ready for harvesting. The old man got a
lot of rice from the harvest. After each harvest, the plants grew back again right away.

When the villagers heard about the hermit and his wonderful “paddy”, they flocked to his
“paddy” field and took home as much “paddy” as they could.

One day, hermit became so tired of harvesting the “paddy then he shouted,” Oh, stop growing,
you wretched thing!” As soon as he had said this, the “paddy” plants turned into weeds.

THE THREE SHEIKS AND QUEEN OF ARABIA

Maura, who like to be thought of as the most beautiful and powerful queen of Arabia, had many
suitors. One by one she discarded them, until her list was reduced to just three sheiks. The three
sheiks were all equally young and handsome. They were also rich and strong. It was very hard to
decide who would be the best of them.
One evening, Maura disguised herself and went to the camp of the three sheiks. As they were
about to have dinner, Maura asked them for something to eat. The first gave her some left over
food. The second Sheik gave her some unappetizing camel’s tail. The third sheik, who was called
Hakim, offered her some of the most tender and tasty meat. After dinner, the disguised queen left
the sheik’s camp.
The following day, the queen invited the three sheiks to dinner at her palace. She ordered her
servant to give each one exactly what they had given her the evening before. Hakim, who
received a plate of delicious meat, refused to eat it if the other two sheiks could not share it with
him.
This Sheik Hakim’s act finally convinced Queen Maura that he was the man for her. “Without
question, Hakim is the most generous of you” she announced her choice to the sheiks. “So it is
Hakim I will marry”.

THE OLD WOMAN AND THE SPARROW

Once upon a time, there lived a kind hearted man and his wife. One morning, his wife found a
poor little sparrow. She took it gently and fed it. To show its gratitude, the sparrow stayed with
them and sang every morning. But there was an ill-tempered old woman who didn't like the
sparrow. She cut the sparrow's tongue. That's why the bird flew away to its previous nest.

Knowing that their sparrow flew away, the kind man and his wife looked for the sparrow. They
walked a long way, crossed the bridges, climbed the mountains and passed the woods.
At last, they could find the sparrow's nest. The sparrow welcomed them and provided a feast for
them. Before they went home, the sparrow brought two baskets; one was large and looked heavy,
and the other one was small and light. The sparrow asked them to choose only one. They chose
the small and that was the best choice. There were many rolls of silk and piles of gold in it.

Being jealous, the ill-tempered old woman did the same thing as the kind man and his wife did.
She chose the big basket which actually contained wasps and venomous crawlers, such as
scorpions, centipedes, and other horrible creatures. Finally, aaathey stung and bit her to death.

THE BOY WHO CRIED “WOLF”

There was once a shepherd-boy who kept his flock at a little distance from the village. Once he
thought he would play a trick on the villagers and have some fun at their expense. So he ran
toward the village crying out, with all his might,

“Wolf! Wolf! Come and help! The wolves are at my lambs!”

The kind villagers left their work and ran to the field to help him. But when they got there the
boy laughed at them for their pains; there was no wolf there.

Still another day the boy tried the same trick, and the villagers came running to help and got
laughed at again. Then one day a wolf did break into the fold and began killing the lambs. In
great fright, the boy ran for help.
“Wolf! Wolf!” he screamed. “There is a wolf in the flock! Help!”

The villagers heard him, but they thought it was another mean trick; no one paid the least
attention, or went near him. And the shepherd-boy lost all his sheep.

"THE SMARTEST ANIMAL"

Once there was a farmer from Laos. Every morning and every evening, he ploughed his field
with his buffalo.
One day, a tiger saw the farmer and his buffalo working in the field. The tiger was very surprised
to see a big animal listening to a small animal. The tiger wanted to know more about the big
animal and the small animal.
After the man went home, the tiger spoke to the buffalo; “you are so big and strong. Why do you
do everything the man tells you?” The buffalo answered; “oh, the man is very intelligent”.
The tiger asked; “can you tell me how intelligent he is?”. “No, I can’t tell you”, said the buffalo;
“but you can ask him”
So the next day the tiger asked to the man; “Can I see your intelligence?”. But the man
answered; “it at home”. “Can you go and get it?” asked the tiger. “Yes” said the man; “but I am
afraid you will kill my buffalo when I am gone. Can I tie you to a tree?”
After the man tied the tiger to the tree, he didn’t go home to get his intelligence. He took his
plough and hit the tiger. Then he said; “Now you know about my intelligence even you haven’t
seen it.