Lech, Czech and Rus

Lech, Czech, and Rus (Czech pronunciation: [lɛx tʃɛx rus]) refers to a founding myth of three Slavic peoples: the Poles (or Lechites), the Czechs, and the Rus' people. The three legendary brothers appear together in the Wielkopolska Chronicle, compiled in the early 14th century. The legend states that the brothers, on a hunting trip, followed different prey and thus travelled (and settled) in different directions; Lech in the north, Czech in the west, and Rus in the East. There are multiple versions of the legend, including several regional variants in Poland and the Czech Republic that mention only one or two of the brothers.

In the Polish version of the legend, three brothers went hunting together but each of them followed a different prey and eventually they all traveled in different directions. Rus went to the east, Čech headed to the west to settle on the Říp Mountain rising up from the Bohemian hilly countryside, while Lech traveled north. There, while hunting, he followed his arrow and suddenly found himself face-to-face with a fierce, white eagle guarding its nest from intruders. Seeing the eagle against the red of the setting sun, Lech took this as a good omen and decided to settle there. He named his settlement Gniezno (Polish gniazdo - 'nest') in commemoration and adopted the White Eagle as his coat-of-arms. The white eagle remains a symbol of Poland to this day, and the colors of the eagle and the setting sun are depicted in Poland's coat of arms.

According to Wielkopolska Chronicle (13th century), Slavs are descendants of Javan, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah. He had three sons - Lech (the oldest), Rus, and Čech (the youngest), who decided to settle west, north, and east.

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