St
ory
of^ t
he^ Moccasin (^) F
low
er
AN^ O
JIBWE^
LEGEND^ R
etold^ by^ Mary^
Morton Cowan • ILLUSTRA
TED (^) BY (^) C
Hris (^) D
yrud
F
or many moons, in the woods near
Kitchigami (kit-chee-GAH-mee), the Ojibwe
stripped birch bark and cut limbs to make
wigwams and canoes. They fished in the big
lake (Lake Superior) and harvested wild rice
and corn. They gathered sarsaparilla, mugwort,
and other herbs for healing the sick. During
Lake-Freezing Moon (November), they hunted
for deer, moose, and bear.
One winter during Gitci-manito-gizis (gi-
chee-MAN-i-toe-gee-zis), a terrible sickness
swept through an Ojibwe Village. People
burned sage and cedar boughs in their
wigwams to purify the air. The mide (medicine
man) chanted songs to attract healing sprits to
each wigwam. He sprinkled boiled Solomon’s
seal root on hot stones for the sick to inhale
healing fumes. Yet, one after another, people
died. Before long, all the medicinal herbs were
gone.
The chief summoned a young messenger
boy.
“Running Wolf,” the chief said, “you must
hurry to the next village. We need mucki-ki