Olifat

Olifat, also spelled Iolofath or Yelafath depending on the island dialect, is the central trickster and culture hero of Central Caroline Islands mythology in Micronesia, with a cycle of tales recorded across Ulithi, Woleai and neighboring atolls. Born to a sky deity father and a mortal mother, Olifat uses cunning, transformation and magic rather than strength to outwit larger and more powerful rivals, including his own divine relatives, in a long sequence of connected episodes. Several tales credit him with securing benefits for humankind, stealing or securing fire and establishing customs still followed by his descendants, in the pattern common to Pacific trickster-culture-hero figures who are simultaneously dangerous, cunning and ultimately beneficial to the human communities that tell his stories.