Once upon a time in a long time ago there lived Pak Buyung with his wife and only child named Indra. They live in a small hut on the seafront. Everyday Pak Buyung and his wife earn a living by collecting forest products and catching fish in the sea to be sold at the market.
Indra, Pak Buyung's son, is a diligent child who never complains. He will help his parents happily without being asked. There is only one drawback of Indra, which is that Indra's portions are very large. In one meal, Indra can spend one rice basket with several side dishes. This makes both parents restless. Because when the famine season arrives, food is hard to get.
Every famine season, Pak Buyung and his wife will save money by eating sweet potatoes and taro instead of rice. But the savings made by Mr. Buyung and his wife were not successful because of Indra's great appetite. Gradually the food reserves ran out. Of course this makes Pak Buyung and his wife upset.
Indra Looking for Food
One day, Indra felt hungry stomach. Because there was no food in the kitchen, Indra then asked his father and mother for food. Mr. Buyung asked Indra to find his own food. At first Indra did not want to look for food but finally he left too after his mother persuaded Indra to look for forest products on the hill Junjung Sirih.
Indra finally went to Bukit Junjung Sirih to look for forest products. Before leaving, Indra first feeds his pet chicken. Indra has a pet chicken which he named Taduang. Because Indra always routinely feeds his pet chickens, Taduang becomes a loyal chicken to his employer. He will crow if Indra returns home.
For almost half a day Indra searched for forest products in Bukit Junjung Sirih but did not get any results. Late in the afternoon Indra went to the sea to look for fish but did not succeed in getting fish.
Mr. Buyung and his Wife Eat Mussels
While Indra went to Bukit Junjung Sirih, Indra's mother went to a Tanjung trying to find fish. After having been searching for fish for a long time, Indra's mother returned home in the afternoon with clams. Of course Mr. Buyung is happy his wife managed to get food. Ibu Indra then cooked the clams. After cooking, Ibu Indra calls her husband to eat. At that time Indra had not returned home. Because the number of shellfish is not much, while Indra's appetite is very large, finally Mr. Buyung and his wife decided to finish the shellfish without leaving it for their children. After eating, both fell asleep in the kitchen with a full stomach.
The Origin of Lake Singkarak and Batang Ombilin River
Towards night, Taduang crowed to signal that his employer was returning. A day without getting food, Indra returned home with a very hungry stomach. Once inside, he went straight to the kitchen. But how shocked Indra was when he saw his parents sleeping deeply in the kitchen. While around them scattered shells and plates.
Indra was very sad to know the fact that his parents ate together without caring for his child. Feeling unloved by her parents, Indra walked out of the house crying. Taduang crowed many times while flapping his wings to see his employer sad.
Indra then sat on a rock weakly. He wanted to fly away from his parents' house. When Taduang flapped his wings again, Indra held Taduang's feet. Indra was then carried flying into the air by his chicken Taduang. Miraculously, the rock where Indra sat was also carried flying along. The higher Indra flew, the bigger the seat of the stone. Because it is already very large, finally the stone fell to earth hit one of the hills around the sea. The very hard impact formed an elongated hole. Because the position of the hole is lower than the sea, sea water quickly fills the hole so that it forms a river flow. The river is now named Batang Ombilin River, whose water runs as far as Riau. While the sea water has increasingly shrunk and turned into a lake. The lake is now named Singkarak Lake.
According to West Sumatra folklore, Lake Singkarak was originally a sea whose water continued to shrink until it turned into a lake. Sea water is shrinking because the water flows into a large hole. The water flow is now forming into the Batang Ombilin River which flows to Riau.
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