2021-2022 Cambridge Road Literary Magazine

Creation Story

By Christopher Stone In the beginning, the world was a lawless place. The strong lived in constant competition, and the weak in fear. Tribes lived and fought with each other constantly over land and resources. They had no way to settle their differences except for war with each other. They needed to change, but they had no example to follow.

Eventually, the tribes formed alliances through marriage and would barter with one another. Trade had been invented. As trade became more common throughout the land, people became tired of fighting. They lost loved ones, family members, and business partners. And so they decided to change. The main change was a decision not to fight, but how would they settle their differences? There were 32 tribes in total. They were split roughly in half by a great river. Sixteen tribes on one side, sixteen on the other. The two groups formed two councils, which both reached a simple resolution: there needed to be some way to settle differences that did not include violence.

After a meeting between the two councils, they decided to create a game that people could use instead of violence. It was called “Pig Skin”. The game included a ball wrapped in pig’s skin and was played on a field with two goal posts. The object of the game was for one team to run the ball past the goal posts, while the other team tried to tackle them. After scoring, the team would kick the ball between the posts for an extra point.

The game continued until one team held a seven-point lead over the other. The game was aggressive, with blocks and tackles. It was, however, much safer than battle.

At first, the game was played exclusively within tribes. Families would compete against each other for prizes, oftentimes money or other goods.

As time went on, the game became more advanced, with specific plays being created, and positions assigned. Everyone enjoyed the new game.

When the village elders saw the enjoyment and bonding that the game brought to people, they held yet another council among themselves. They decided that the game was extremely beneficial to their people and would become common practice not only within specific tribes, but among all of them. They created a league, with one team for each tribe, with two conferences, one for the tribes West of the great river, one for the tribes East of it. The two conference’s teams would play each other in a yearly tournament. The end of the tournament would conclude with a game called “The Tribal Bowl”, in which the best team from each tribe would compete for the Tomahawk Trophy.

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