This legend tells how the imperial flower of the Incas and the national symbol of Bolivia came into being.

Sitting high in the Andean highlands the god Cuurmi, rainbow, was moaning about his situation, complaining about his misfortune and bad luck. Occasionally he sent a ray of bright colours from one side of the sky to the other. But after watching the beauty that he sent out Cuurmi would start moaning about his unlucky destiny again.

“There is no sense in this beauty which lasts only seconds,” he said woefully. “What good is it to own all these colours? Oh sad destiny of this young god with such useless beauty. Father Wiracocha, let this fountain inside me calm the thirst for beauty that the mortals have on earth.”

Kjunu, god of snow, respected among the gods for his age, heard from the distance the moans of the young god. As Cuurmi continued to moan and cry Kjunu brought on a snowstorm to hear less from this young god, not wanting to hear his cries.

In the valleys next to the highlands there is a flower which makes a sound when it shakes in the wind. The name of this well known flower is Khantuta.

When Wiracocha, father of the gods, finally decided that Cuurmi had cried enough he called him to his presence and scolded him. He told him that he should not be sad, that he was immortal and that only mortals could complain of their uselessness. However, to try to help his son Wiracocha told Cuurmi could have the hand of Khantu, the beautiful flower. From that union a daughter was born with the three colours of the rainbow; red, yellow and green.

Wiracocha was proud of the beautiful offspring and had Wayra-tata, god of the winds, take the seeds of this new flower to all the regions of the kingdom so that it could grow everywhere.

The Khantuta flower is red, yellow and green just like the Bolivian flag

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