Once upon a time there was a young farmer whose name was Toba He lived in a valley which land was fertile, therefore he was able to support his life by the crops he grew although he was not a rich man.

One day, he felt like he wanted to eat fish so he went fishing at a river not far from his house. The river was usually rich with fish, but on that strange day he did not catch any fish for a long time, so he decided to just go home. Just as he was preparing to leave, his rod and line still in the water caught a big fish. As he lifted the fish, it suddenly talked. The fish cried and begged him to release it.

Surprised to see a talking fish, he released it to the river, but suddenly the fish transformed into beautiful young woman. The young woman said that she was actually a princess cursed to be a fish. She thanked the young farmer for breaking her curse and to show her gratitude, she was willing to be his wife under the condition that the farmer should not tell anybody about her being a fish once or a terrible disaster would be fallen on him. So the farmer and the woman got married and after a while the woman gave birth to a baby boy. The boy grew up to be a child of great appetite. He was always hungry and would eat all the food at the table and would not even leave any food for his parents to eat.

One day the boy was asked to bring food to his father who was working on the field. But on the way, the boy ate up the food he carried. At the field, his father was very hungry and tired after working, but he found out there was no food left for him to eat. This made the farmer lose his temper and in anger, he hit the boy and called him a son of the fish.

Crying, the boy ran home and asked his mother if he really was a son of a fish. Shocked and sad to hear that, his mother told the boy to climb to the hill near their house and to climb to the top of the tallest tree. She herself hurried up to the river where he met the young farmer the first time and disappeared.

The sky turned black and thunder and lightning roared and heavy rain fell onto the valley. The rain was so hard and so long that the valley started to flood. The water got higher and higher until the valley was no more. It had turned into a lake. People named the lake after the farmer, Toba. The hill became an island in the middle of the lake, and it was named Samosir Island. The son was believed to be the ancestor of Batak People of North Sumatera.

It was said that somewhere in Dadapan Village there was a pond where apsaras descended from heaven to take a bath.

Jaka Tarub was a young man who lived in a small village. One day, he was hunting for a deer in Dadapan Village but he did not find any deer. While searching fo a deer, he heard the sound of girls laughing. As the place is deep inside the forest, Jaka Tarub wondered why there were girls there. He followed the sound and arrived at a small pond where he saw seven apsaras descended from heaven to take a bath. The apsaras looked like young girls and were very beautiful.

While the apsaras were bathing, Jaka sneaked out and took one of the shawls lying on a rock nearest to him and went back into hiding. He watched as the apsaras were chatting among themselves while bathing. After they finished bathing and getting dressed, one of the apsaras, the youngest and the most beautiful of all, looked puzzled because she could not find her shawl, which was stolen by Jaka. Without her shawl, she could not fly back to heaven. Jaka heard the other apsaras called her Nawang Wulan while they told her that it was getting late and they had to return to heaven so could not stay with her to look for her shawl. After the other apsaras had gone, Jaka Tarub showed himself and pretended to offer his help.

The trustful Nawang Wulan agreed to go with Jaka Tarub to his home. Eventually the two fell in love and got married. It turned out that Nawang Wulan was a good wife and was very skillfull in doing house chores without making much effort. Moreover, their rice supply seems like never decreased after he married her. But Nawang Wulan forbade Jaka to look inside the rice cooker while she cooked rice.

Not long after, Nawang Wulan got pregnant and at due time she gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Nawangsih. Now, added with the task of taking care of a baby, Nawang Wulan still seems to have no difficulties in doing her house chores, while most other woman would have some difficulties in doing all she did.

Feeling very curious about all these, Jaka tried to find out her secret. He did what Nawang Wulan forbid him to do. He opened the lid of the rice cooker and looked inside it. He found out that Nawang Wulan only used one single grain of rice to cook into a full rice cooker. Now he knew why their rice supply was never decreased and that all these times Nawang Wulan had been using her apsara powers to do house chores.

But something happened after Jaka peeked inside the rice cooker. Nawang Wulan began to have various difficulties in doing her tasks. Furthermore, their rice supply began to decrease. Nawang Wulan had lost her apsara powers and became an ordinary human being.

When their rice supply was nearly used up, Nawang Wulan unintentionally saw her old shawl lurking from below their rice supply while she went to the granary to get some rice. To her surprise, she found out that it was Jaka who stole her shawl all along, which made her could not go back to heaven. She was angry, and now that she had find her shawl, she decided to return to heaven. Jaka pleaded her not to leave, but her decision was final.

But before she went, Nawang Wulan asked Jaka to build a hut outside their house and told him to leave Nawangsih there every night, and that he should never look inside the hut while she was there to nurse the baby. Since then Jaka took Nawangsih to the hut every night until she grew up. Nawang Wulan always cared for her family from heaven and always provided help for her family when they needed it.

After the agreement, a lovely girl was born from one of the golden cucumbers planted in the old couple’s yard. They decided to name the girl “Timun Mas” or “Golden Cucumber,” suiting the place she was born in.

Timun Mas grew into a cheerful and smart kid. The old couple was happy to see Timun Mas’ development everyday. This happiness continued until Timun Mas reached 17. When Timun Mas reached her age, they remembered the agreement with Buto Ijo.

Knowing this, the mother and the father were very sad. They didn’t want to lose their only kid. So, they tried to make Timun Mas stay alive by giving her a pouch. Inside the pouch were cucumber seeds, salt, and shrimp paste. They told Timun Mas that if a giant came after her, she just needed to throw each item to Buto Ijo.

On Timun Mas’ 17th birthday, Timun Mas was ready. Buto Ijo came after her, just as her parents said. She ran swiftly, and she threw the cucumber seeds. The seeds turned into tangled plants, trapping Buto Ijo’s feet. His chasing stopped for a while but he managed to get off the plants.

Realizing that the plants couldn’t stop Buto Ijo, Timun Mas threw salt. The salt turned into sea, which drowned the giant. But still, he was able to after Timun Mas.

The last item inside the pouch was a shrimp paste. Timun Mas threw it, and it turned into quicksand. This time, Buto Ijo couldn’t get away. The quicksand sucked him so quickly till he drowned in it. Timun Mas was saved, and she can gather with her family again.

One day, Malin Kundang shared his thought with his mother. He wanted to sail overseas so that he could be a successful man. Hearing this, his mother disagreed.

“But mother, if I stay here, I’ll always be a poor man. I want to be a successful person.” he said.

Seeing his persistence, his mother couldn’t stop Malin Kundang. She asked Malin Kundang to promise her to go home after gaining success.

The following day, Malin Kundang was ready. He joined a successful ship crew who offered him to join the crew. Malin Kundang’s mother bid him adieu, and asked her son to take care of himself. Malin Kundang asked the same from his mother. They parted, with Malin Kundang pursuing his dream and his mother waiting for him at home.

It had been three months since Malin Kundang’s departure. Not once did he take his time to contact his mother. The mother, who waited patiently, always stood up on the dock every morning. She wished for a ship to bring her son home. She prayed day and night, endlessly, for Malin Kundang’s safety.

One day, after several years of not hearing from her son, the fated day came. A large ship docked at the point where Malin Kundang’s mother used to wait. A wealthy-looking man stepped down from the ship, accompanied by a beautiful woman next to him. Realizing he was her son, Malin Kundang’s mother ran toward the man. She hugged her son dearly while crying out how much she missed him.

Malin Kundang froze and gave no response. He was ashamed that the woman wearing old and shabby clothes was his mother. He replied coldly, “You’re not my mother. My mother would never such a shabby clothes.”

The mother released her hug and asked unbelievably, “Malin, you don’t recognize your mother? I am your mother!”

Malin Kundang then ordered his guards to take his mother out of there. Her mother cried as the bodyguards dragged her. She was very sad, knowing that his awaited son treated her badly like this.

Malin Kundang ignored her mother’s cry and ordered his crew to set sail. Malin Kundang’s mother stared at him blankly. She prayed to God, “Oh God, if he is not my son, please let him have a safe journey. But if he is indeed my son Malin Kundang, I curse him into a stone.”

Right after she prayed, the calm sea turned into a thunderstorm. Malin Kundang’s ship was wrecked. The wave threw him out of his ship, and he was stranded on an island. Suddenly, his whole body turned into stone. He was punished for not admitting his mother.

One day, Dayang Sumbi asked her son to go hunting with his lovely dog, Tumang. After hunting all day, Sangkuriang became desperate and worried because he hunted no deer. Then he thought of shooting his own dog. Then he took the dog's liver and carried it home.

Soon Dayang Sumbi found out that it was not deer lever but Tumang's, his own dog. So, She was very angry and hit Sangkuriang's head. In that incident, Sangkuriang got wounded and scarred and then cast away from their home.

Years go by, Sangkuriang had traveled to many places and finally arrived at a village. He met a beautiful woman and fell in love with her. When they were discussing their wedding plans, The woman looked at the wound in Sangkuriang's head. It matched her son's wound who had left several years earlier. Soon she realized that she fell in love with her own son.

She couldn't marry him but how to say it. Then, she found the way. She needed a lake and a boat for celebrating their wedding day. Sangkuriang had to make them in one night. He built a lake. With dawn just a moment away and the boat was almost complete. Dayang Sumbi had to stop it. Then, she lit up the eastern horizon with flashes of light. It made the cock crowed for a new day.

Sangkuriang failed to marry her. She was very angry and kicked the boat. It felt over and became the mountain of Tangkuban Perahu Bandung.

Moral of the story: Be honest because honesty will bring goodness and happiness in the future.