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There is a legend of the Blackfoot tribe of Old Man or Napi. Napi was not a god to be venerated but was the fallible human who was considered the all powerful undergod. As any human, he had faults and virtues and made mistakes. His works and occasional pranks ran the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous. Many stories are told about him and how the world came to be.

In the long, long ago, the animals and birds were many. There were few men and women of the world, and Old Man was chief of the people. The animals and birds quarreled at their councils as to who should be chief under Old Man. Almost every night, they argued. Finally Rabbit went to Old Man and told him he should come to the council and help them decide who would be the chief.

After listening to the arguing and fighting one evening, Old Man said, "Stop!", and the animals and birds fell silent. He then told them all to sit and be still, and he would settle their differences once and for all, forever. The animals and birds gathered around as Old Man slowly took a small polished bone from his pouch. They would play the bone game to determine who would be chief. Old Man started to sing a song and the game began. The polished bone was passed from hand to hand, always faster and faster. Suddenly Old Man's hands would stop, tightly clasped, and he would ask an animal which hand held the bone. And each time, they guessed wrong – the bear, eagle, deer, chipmunk and so on, until all the birds and animals had played the game.

Then Buffalo took the bone and passed it from hoof to hoof slowly at first, but faster and faster until it was just a blur. Suddenly it stopped and Buffalo asked Mouse to find the bone. Mouse had watched with careful eyes and immediately showed Buffalo where the bone was. Mouse had won the game, and Old Man summoned him to the center of the council and proclaimed him chief of all the animals and birds.

Mouse then addressed the council: "What I have won is also mine to give. I am small to be a chief my brothers, and I am not a warrior. I can live with everybody. I want to live in peace. I give my right to be chief to the man, the one that Old Man has made and who looks like him."

And as Mouse passed his title to the man, who would be chief for all time, he ended by saying, "And now, for all time, we are all friends".