Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Ojibwa Story of the Lady Slipper

According to an Ojibwa Legend, a village was decimated by a dreaded disease that even killed the medicine man.  To deal with this crisis the chief asked his messenger to go to a nearby village to ask for medicine. This trip was very difficult especially in the winter without moccasins.  The messenger fell ill before he was able to go.  The messenger's wife, Koo-Koo Lee decided to go fetch the medicine instead to save the life of her husband and those members of her village that had been struck with this illness. 


On her journey, Koo-Koo- Lee was impervious to the sharp ice and snow.  Upon her return, the men and women of her village found her lying in the snow with swollen feet. Koo-Koo-Lee's bundle with the medicine was clutched to her chest, she kept it safe and sound.  The villagers were so happy to see that she returned with the medicine and was relatively unharmed. They carried her into the lodge. They wrapped her battered feet in thick warm deer skins to help heal them. For the devotion she showed to her people, Koo-Koo-Lee was renamed Wah-on-nay. Her foot wrappings became little flowers of yellow on her death, called by some Wah-on-nay moccasin, and by others as the Koo-Koo- Lee moccasin.  These beautiful yellow flowers are also known as Lady Slippers.

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