Ulithian

Mala tamol Raag wol Yap, yemel rumal tarfefel lol. Ye kal yal mekwe wulutigir hachangi metwe miril yarmat mimol yaremtawe mol yarmat. Rebe faru mekwe halar, ngo yete ma chu fangal helar. Ma muslog rowol hal iwe yewachich, ngo ye wol muslog hal iwe mol yarmat. Reble hasi mekwe momaiyel wool le rebla lili helar sa faru bo hal metwe wachich. Yong ikawe taikof, tapel pol mo pechel, reble hamedda bo hal yaremetawe mol yarmat. Iwe ngo rebela mongoi ngo rete ma holae fengali helar bo semal ir ngo yemuslog yal raw.

Resa pei ye – la ral we seral, ngo iy yarmatwe miril yarmat bele hasi sa fasngu metawe mol yarmat. “Budog, budog, sibe mongoi ika halai.” Yong iy, “Ngak maila bo halai ika.” Molwe miril yarmat sa kekemahoi mekwe hal iewe ye mol yarmat: “Taikof!”

La songu, iewe ngo yewol taikof lal. “Budog, sibe mongai ikla halai le momai.” Iwe sa log sala mongoi ikwe hal molwe miril yarmat. Sala hola, “Ai momai lal meka hal rematle mimol ikwe halai.”

Ila melwe bele sig. Sa log sala – mala idal matla mol yarmat ila Liomran. Bele sig iwe sa kasiya bo, “Ma iye sengal chog meka halam?”

“Ak ngoa!”

“Aii, mekwe momai mele rema faru bo hal metawe miril yarmat, sa faru ikwe taikof bo halai.” Bele buyoi chog sa ragsu sew tohagul piy, sa darlog wol tad, sa bidag, bidag, ye la tai wiri log Yap.

Iewe, sa hasi togahol piy we, sa hamro log, sala sub meka fulyach. Sa bidag, sala mel wol Loosiap. Mel melwe cholop wool ngo be ma mongoi log chog wool. Ye la kal doh geech. Tai mol bo mel wol Loosiap irel geech kawe sa cholop doh.

Sa budog sulbe hare iya fulu le momai le yebele la mel mo iyang. Sa toalu dah sew yaaf, sa kamahoy molwe borahol ngo ye wel diy melwe borahol wol Mangyang.

Sa chui mo Loosiap, sa bidi, sala mel wol Mangeyang. Sa pey wol Mangeyang ye la wol kal dog loeng. Towol mmwol lebemel wol Mangyang bo sa cholap dog loeng. Sa wol sulbe. Sa sulbe ye la wwel diy melwe borahol yaf we yal wol Mogmog. Bele chui mo Mangyang, sa log wol Mogmog, sa la pei wol Mogmog. Yodwe sa pei wol fului ka, sa change gili melwe idal ngal Filtey. Sa pey wol Mogmog lal pael we. Ila mala imal.

Sa mel wol Mogmog ye la yor lol.  Semael tarmal lol. Idal tarmal la lol le Yonglab. Sa la pelang dag melwe lol, sa faru sew haplor bo wal. Sa faryu iy haplor we wal, sa kanglu bema hateterag irel wa la wal, ieyong be ma daf loh wa la wal ngo towe ma dabei.  La rela we seral, sa bidi iy tarmal we, sa hateterag irel wa we wal metarol melwe fuluyar. Sa kowawa fedal irel wa we wol ye la daf loh iy wa we wal sa buyoi limdaw. Sa dabei, sa maliglalog melwe, melwe sil ye kanglu. Sa dabei, dabei chog wa we wal ye la pat dag wa we wal mo wol piyal Raag.

Sa piyagus, sa pung diy chog wulpiy, sa togla log farmel. Resala bidi yalwich bo chol dudu leted, resla wiri.

“Aii, semel yalwich iye moch budog wol faliyey, semat mele wululul.” Reble bidag, sala kanglu Tamol we bo yemel semel yalwich le moch budog le semat mela wululul le te yalchul fuluwe.

“Aii hala hasi dag.” Resa bidi sala hasidag. Tamol we sa budog kasiya lobos le ye budog miyang, ngo hare ifa idal mekla wulutugul. La kapatpat, ngo retogla fal iy mekwe yesosor bo ye semat yalol. Rema hola chog iy mala idal “Liomran” harey “Filtey.” Yesa sor bo, “Aii ila melwe layi we isa togaloh mo, irel fodow rag.”

Tamol we sa hangungu tawe we, sa rodog yarmat, sa kanglur rebla hatedog mongoi, rebele la fagli melwe lol we taimel loh. Fedai mow a kawe wal muswe le re haida ngal mongoyel Yap, resa bidag le re hasi iy yalwich we. Resa bibidag, ngo iy Filtey ye hola. Melwe sa lag fulu ka, bo yalwich we sa kawra ngalir, iwe resa haweler ngal Mogmog. Melwe Filtey sa hola bo sa bubulong wa kawe, sala change gili ngal semel mwili, sala mel metal yasol iy pal we, sa kokomahoi wa kawe yal bubudog. Sa budog, budog ye- rela hola fului.

Irel yodle ngo Mogmog ted yor idal.

Resa bulong, resla wiri lepal yal momai, iwe resa hadeda bo Mogmog. Iy sa chui chog mo metal iy yas we, sa bulong, sala maroro lechochol iy pal we. Sa wilgiloh ngal sew faas kawe ye wululul chog semal yarmat. Sa bulong iy rechokawe, iewe melwe lol sa bidag fofos fedal ye la bulong lal iy pal we.

Ye maroro ie melwe sil ngo tai yarmat bo sa sefas faas. Sala mel log Mogmog le. Ila mala idal fulu we. Iewe sa titi mata, maiyo, maiyo!   

English

Once upon a time, two daughters lived with their father, the Great Paramount Chief of Raag, on the Pacific island of Yap in Micronesia. [1] Their parents loved the younger daughter more than the older one, and treated her better. When they prepared meals, they would always cook separately for each of the two daughters. When they harvested a turtle, they would always give the best parts of the turtle to the younger daughter and the worst parts – like the fins, which are not very tender – to the older daughter. This unfair treatment went on for years as the two sisters grew up, and since they always ate separately, neither of them knew about it.  

One day, when they were about to eat, the younger sister, feeling curious, called the older sister to bring her bowl over so they could eat together. [2]

“Come, come, I’d like to share my food with you,” said the younger sister.

“No, no, I have my own,” insisted the older sister. The younger sister peeked into the older sister’s pot and, dismayed at what she saw, cried out “Eww!”

The younger sister did not stop there. She reached into her older sister’s bowl, tried her share of the turtle and realized that it tasted awful. She begged her older sister: “Please come eat with me, my share tastes so much better than yours.” The older sister hesitantly tried her sister’s food, and discovered that it did indeed taste better. As she thought it over, she at last realized that she was always given the worst parts of the turtle.

Disheartened, the older sister asked, “Is your share of food always tastier than mine?”

“Yes, my food has always been this good,” replied the younger sister.

“Well, it’s clear that you get always get the better half, and I the worst.” said the older sister.”

Without another word, the older sister left their home island of Yap and started traveling to the east. The older sister’s name was Liomaran.[3] As she set off on this mysterious journey into the unknown, she vowed never to return home.

She took a half-cut coconut shell, scooped up some sand from the beaches of Raag, and off she went. Liomaran wandered aimlessly over the ocean toward the eastern horizon. On she wandered, walking over the water to the far, far east, away from her home and family in Yap. She finally stopped when she could no longer hear the crashing of waves onto the shore of her home island. At this point, the island of Yap was far out of sight. 

In this vast unknown place of deep blue, Liomaran magically spread the scoop of sand over the water, forming a string of small, sandy islands. This is believed to be the birth of our island homes, that we know today as Ulithi Atoll. With the promise of a fresh start, Liomaran first settled on the easternmost part of the atoll, on the island of Loosiap. Her new island of Loosiap was blessed with nesting sea turtles all year around. [4] Liomaran enjoyed the abundance of turtle meat available to her at all times. Liomaran lived on Loosiap for a long time, but for some unknown reason, the island experienced an outbreak of rats. This rat infestation on Loosiap became so great and unbearable for Liomaran that she had to turn to the spirits for answers.

Liomaran performed the magical ritual known as Sulbwe,[5] to determine which island in her Ulithi Atoll she would move to next. As part of the Sulbwe ritual, she built a big fire, and observed carefully as the smoke formed a long dark string. From the secret platform where she built her fire, the mysterious smoke formed a continuous dark spiral that pointed in a northwestern direction, directly at the island of Mangyang. Taking that as a sign, she decided to move to Mangyang island. Mangyang is situated in a more central location on the eastern edge of the atoll. To the present day this island is best known for having the largest RogRog (orangecheek emperorfish Lethrinus erythracanthus) in all of Ulithi Atoll.

This is also why Mangyang has the largest lagoon fishing jurisdiction in the entire atoll, because the creator of Ulithi atoll, Liomaran, who was the first born of the great King of Raag, once settled there. She lived on Mangyang for a period of time, and like Loosiap, the island also became infested, this time with ants. Again, the infestation became unbearable for her, so again she turned to her strong magic to find out which island would be best to move to.”

Like the results of her magical fire from Loosiap, the smoke this time pointed to the island of Mogmog in the northernmost part of the atoll. Liomaran finally settled on the island of Mogmog and made her home in the women’s house there. It was then that she changed her name from Liomaran to Filtey.

Filtey lived on Mogmog until she had children of her own.[6] She gave birth to a son and named him Yonglob. Yonglob grew to be a strong and healthy young boy. One day, his mother Filtey built him a Haplor, a small replica of a voyaging canoe, but made for young children as a toy to practice sailing and get comfortable in the water . Yonglob was very proud of his Haplor. He would use it to compete with other children from Mogmog along the shore. He was allowed to race his small canoe so long as he followed one strict rule: that if the canoe drifted out of reach and headed west, he would not try to go after it to get it back. One day as Yonglob enjoyed playing with his canoe in the waters of Mogmog, the canoe drifted out of reach and headed directly westwards. He forgot all about Filtey’s strict instructions not to ever follow his canoe out to the west. Yonglob followed his canoe far beyond the shores of Ulithi and on to the strange beach of a large, mountainous island to the west of Ulithi. He was completely lost, as he had drifted far beyond Ulithi and had landed on the beaches of Raag, where his mother had been born.

Yonglob was so exhausted from his long swim from Ulithi that he collapsed on the beach and fell unconscious. The children of Raag found the young boy sleeping on the beach and tried to wake him up. To their surprise, they could not understand the foreign language he spoke except for “Liomaran” and “Filtey.” The children ran straight to the high chief of Raag to tell him the news.

“We found a strange boy sleeping on the sand, but we don’t understand his language or know where he comes from,” the children of Raag said to the Chief. “The only words we could make out were ‘Liomaran’ and ‘Filtey.’”

“Go bring this strange child to me at once,” ordered the High Chief.

The children did as they were told and brought the young child to the high chief. This strange child might be the answer to the chief’s search for the whereabouts of his missing eldest daughter.

He immediately blew the conch shell horn calling all the elders in his kingdom.

“Come one, come all, I have found my missing eldest daughter. We shall build large voyaging canoes, gather the best crops in my kingdom, and go find my daughter,” ordered the high chief. The community did as they had been instructed with young Yonglob leading the fleet to Mogmog, which at this time had not yet been named. As they approached, Filtey, part human and part spirit, transformed herself into a small black bird, the Mwiliy (Micronesian Starling /Aplonis Opaca). In the form of the Mwiliy, she sat on the highest tip of the roof of her house. She watched the canoes come into the lagoon of Ulithi and on to Mogmog. Before the voyagers could land on the beach of Mogmog, Filtey flew back inside the house and again transformed herself, this time into a large rock. Today, the women’s house on Mogmog is believed to be built on top of the Filtey Rock.

As they approached the island, Yonglob’s grandfather, amazed by its beauty, exclaimed, “Mog!” (This is a Yapese word meaning “Say! or Wow!”[7]) Young Yonglob and his grandfather found no trace of Filtey, only a large rock in the middle of the women’s house. They named the island Mogmog. Mogmog is also the name of an umbrella-like plant [8] because it plays a role in providing shade over all the rest of the islands.

Today, the Mogmog women’s house has a special rock buried beneath the center of the foundation. In the past, this rock was said to possess magical powers thanks to the spirit Filtey, who is believed to favor women's interests and helps women when their interests conflict with the men’s. For instance, if the men go out to fish without telling the women, and the women in return would like to ensure an unsuccessful catch for the men, they would make a lei out of yellow papaya leaves and set it on Filtey’s magical rock. This magic would curse the men with bad luck, and they would often come back from fishing with a very small catch. The women of Mogmog still believe that they have this power over fish catches. This is precisely why men must always respect the women of their communities, because if they are unhappy it could mean going hungry without any fish.[9] 

Titi Mata Mayomayo! – The End.

Footnotes

[1] Yap and Ulithi are bound together by the events of a story. This story is told a little differently on Yap and on Ulithi, with the same names applied to different people. The Yap version focuses on Yongl’aab, his daughter Liomarer, and her son Filtey. On Ulithi, the name Filtey is applied to the daughter. (http://www.pacificworlds.com/yap/arrival/ancients.cfm)

[2] Clan inheritance passes down through the first-born daughter. Knowledge is power and must be passed down through the female lineage. In the story, the obedient older sister trusted her parents, so she had no reason to think that her food basket would be different. 

[3] This is a Yapese name that is still used in Yap. Its use in this story further emphasizes the connection between Mogmog and Raag.

[4] The introduction of rats and monitor lizards which predate sea turtle nests has had a severe impact on this nesting site (Cruce 2009). Beginning in 2018, Island Conservation is partnering with One People One Reef to remove these invasive species.

[5] In sulbwe, a wise individual guided by the spirits of the gods uses a complex system of coconut leaf knots or other forms of ritual to learn whether an important decision will have a good or a bad outcome. For example, the ritual can be used to predict the weather to learn the best time for open ocean voyages, to predict the migration of large schools of fish coming close to the islands, or to predict a plentiful breadfruit harvest.

[6] There's silent message here that children are given as a blessing from the Spirits (Magul).

[7] Mog is also the root word for Mogethin meaning "Hello and welcome". Literally it translates as “what do you say” or "what's going on?”

[8] Tacca leontopetaloides (Polynesian arrowroot)

[9] This practice has been discouraged over the years in order to avoid bad luck for any voyages, and has faded out with the introduction of Christianity. This may have been a cause of breakdown of the balance of power. Traditionally, women possess great silent power in Yapese/Ulithian society (Magul). Yonglob is believed to be the great Spirit of prosperity and is the god responsible for giving land and seafood resources to the people. When Yonglob is unhappy, he can create a famine in all the islands. This is why we must always be obedient to Mogmog and the patient god Yonglob.