| Description |
A long time ago, there lived two sisters on a beautiful island. The older sister married a man, while the younger sister had a son without a husband. The two sisters were happy. One day, the younger sister went to fix a lei with the flower tree at the end of the island. After fixing the lei, she got tired and decided to sleep under the flower tree. She woke up and saw a man on the tree. The man proposed to her, and she accepted. The man asked her to leave her son with her older sister. After they left, though, the older sister started treating the boy very badly. One day, the older sister got mad and told the boy to look for his own mother. He left the house and climbed the flower tree and went to another world, where he met his mother. There, the boy met a man named Yolfat. Yolfat asked his mother if the boy could stay with him and become his son. The mother allowed her son to stay with Yolfat, who taught the boy how to navigate, sail, fight, etc. One day, the boy went to take a shower on the other side of the island and met a big, strong ghost. They started fighting until the last minute before sunrise. The ghost asked the boy who his father was and he answered it was Yolfat. Admitting defeat, the ghost named him Palulap, which means the one who has all knowledge of everything. The boy returned to Yolfat and told him what had happened. Yolfat told him to go back to the other world and spread his knowledge, so Palulap became the one who taught the knowledge of navigation to the people in this world. Note: Yolfat is used in the outer islands of Yap, whereas the Yapese main island uses Yalfath. Both Yolfat and Yalfath indicate the same god. |
