Long, long time ago in Yap, there was a 15 years old boy name Itipwut. He lives with his mother, name Yat and his father, name Yon in Rumwung village. All the people from Rumwung village are consider as "REISIFAR" which means low cast in English. This village has only few food because the land mass is too small for its population to plant their food. Itipwut and Yon always go fishing every day and night because they do not have enough food, but at least they have fish to eat with copra. When Itipwut reached 20 years of age, his father died from hard working. Yon died and left them without anything except for his fishing gears, his canoe, and of course their house, which he built by his self.
Itipwut and Yat live all by themselves in their house. Every evening, Itipwut went out fishing on his father's canoe. Every day when he came back home, Yat had already prepared different kinds of food for him. He had being wondering where his mother got those foods from, but he never bother to ask her. One day, he lied to Yat that he will go fishing. He take his canoe in the water and paddle to the end of the island and hide it near some mangroves and walked back home to check where his mother take those food from. When he came near their house, he saw Yat carried a basket and started to walk into the woods. He followed her until she stopped at the east side of the island. She took out some coconut leaves from her basket and started talking in a low voice where Itipwut did not hear any of the words. After she finished talking, the tide was very low. She took her basket and walked on the coral to the breaking barrier, and she started counting the waves. When she called out the fourth wave, she jumped under the fourth wave and vanished out. When the wave muttered down, she was standing on the shore with her basket full of taros, breadfruits, and different kinds of food. When he finally knew where his mother got those kinds of food from, he knew that Yat must have a special kind of magic, but she never let him know about it. When he finally knew it, he knew that Yat could do her magic in order for them to escape from Yap. He turned and ran back to where he was hiding his canoe to start fishing, but he never forgot that Yat had a very unusual black magic. He finished fishing and paddle back home. When he reached his place, he took his canoe up on the beach and walked home with those fish he got. He put down those fish, and Yat told him, "Go shower because your food are ready now." As soon as he saw those foods, he recalled that his mother must have an unusual magic.
He went shower and change his cloths. He came out to start eating. While he was eating, he started asking his mother about her unusual magic, and Yat said, "Yes, I do have an unusual magic which I learned in case people from here were trying to kill us. He said, "Mom, can we escape from this island because I am tired of this custom." Yat responded and said, "Son, I was trying to ask you the same question because these men here always beat you up. However, I do not want you to die in the same situation that your father faced. But I just can't." After his mother finished what she said, he went into their house and started backing their cloths and their other needs. When he came back out, he had all their things inside a basket, which shows her that he want to leave Yap immediately. Yat took a half piece of a coconut shell and filled it with sand. She took some important trees for living. After she took all what she needed for her magic, then they start walking until they reached the east side of Yap. She went down on the shore and spill in some salt water inside the coconut shell, and they started to walk on the ocean. Itipwut told Yat that he wanted to go very far away from Yap. When they reach about 87 miles away from Yap, she put the sand on the water suddenly it formed up as an island. When it completely formed, she named it Satawal (Sat-wan) which means in English, only one piece of land that surrounded by a big ocean. In fact, Satawal does not have atoll, but it just surrounded by a huge blue ocean. Our ancestors have told this old story about Satawal Island, and it keeps on passing down from generations to generations until now. I hope you enjoy reading and visiting my website. Thank you very much and have nice day!
| All | character's | names |
|---|---|---|
| Yat | Yon | Itipwut |
| Mother | Father | Son |
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