One day, the animals of the forest gathered for a great ball game.
The powerful bear and the swift deer teamed up against the hawk, eagle and owl. As they were ready to start, the mouse and the squirrel asked to join the bird team. The bear and deer and had rejected them for being too small.
The birds welcomed them and fashioned a pair of leather wings for the mouse. Then they stretched the squirrel so he would have his own wings. Thus, the flying squirrel was created.
In the end, the eagle maintained possession of the ball, dodged the deer and bear and feinted toward the squirrel. The squirrel passed to the mouse and the mouse flew to the goal, cut left and scored. Victory for the bird team.
So that was how the sport of lacrosse was invented and how the Haudenosaunee people still play it.
The Haudenosaunee is a confederation of Native American communities in New York, Ontario and Quebec, according to the Los Angeles Times. They claim an ancient confederation of six nations known as the Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations. The 100,000 people of the Haudenosaunee are still not fully recognized by the U.S. and Canada.
The Haudenosaunee have been playing lacrosse since the bear teamed with the eagle. But their national lacrosse team, the Iroquois Nationals, was created in 1983 after they tired of losing their best players to U.S. and Canadian teams.
In August, they won a crucial victory for equality in lacrosse as the World Games acknowledged their 'position of honor.' The Haudenosaunee are expected to compete as an independent nation in the World Games.