Over a thousand years ago there was a King called Slav. He had three sons, Lech, Czech and Rus.

The time had come for Slav to divide his Kingdom between his sons, but he loved them so much he couldn't decide who would have what area. He said to his sons, you travel around and see which areas you want.

The sons started riding around the Kingdom, but they loved each other too much, they said to each other, You have this area! In the end they decided to go in different directions.

Czech went to the south where he found a land with mountains and forests and nice vallies. He stayed there and formed the country that came to be called Czechoslovakia.

Rus went to the east where he found a land with big plains and forests, rivers and mountains. He stayed there and formed a country called Russia.

Lech went to the north and found a flat land with nice forests. He stayed there and called the country Polska which is the word for "flat land".

One day he came to a clearing in the forest and he saw a white eagle landing in a nest in the top of an oak tree. It was a mother eagle protecting her eaglets. Lech tried to get near the nest but the mother eagle defended her nest fiercly and blood was staining her white feathers. This is how Lech came to think of the colours for the Polish flag, which is white and red. He came to admire the eagle so much he made it the national symbol of the country, with a crown on its head to remind us of the Prince who became King.

Lech decided to build a town there and he called it Gniezno which means Eagle's Nest.

Here is another very similar version of the legend