Weekly Flag Challenge 266 Voting

[Born in the USSA]

Flag Challenge 266: Lions and Tigers and Bears

This one's pretty straightforward: take a country of your choosing and remake its flag to prominently feature the national animal. Countries with weird or cool animals are of course preferred and simply slapping an animal over the existing flag is low-hanging fruit.

Entry 1:

The legendary winged horse Chollima (literally "thousand-li horse") is the national animal of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Its ability to travel one thousand li in a single day is often used to promote the nation's rapid economic development and the constant, fighting spirit of the Korean people.

Entry 2:

Latvia:
The Two -Spotted Ladybird is the national insect.
This design won out over other flags based on the Ladybird, as well as those based on the national bird, the White Wagtail, as it keeps closer to the pre-Soviet occupation flag of Latvia.

Entry 3:

The Danish national flag is the oldest continuously used national flag in the world. Its usage dates back to the 13th century. According to legend, during the Livonian Crusade, in June 1219, the forces of Danish king Valdemar II came under attack from local Estonians. The king was outside the main camp when the onslaught happened. His handful of bodyguards was overwhelmed and killed by the Estonian warriors, forcing Valdemar to flee to a nearby grove or sparser forest.

Here, he noticed an old-growth tree with a sizable hollow, hidden behind some bushes. With the Estonians approaching, Valdemar crawled through the underbrush, into the inside of the large hollow. It was a tight fit, but he was hidden well. He tried shallow breaths, in order to avoid giving himself away. Despite his best effort, there were several close calls. Some of the warriors snooped around his hiding area, passing the hollow tree and several nearby trees numerous times, impatient to find the fleeing king.

To the king's surprise, he noticed that a few squirrels on a nearby large tree were eating acorns and other nuts, dropping them to the ground. In the quiet forest, the dropped nuts and other treats fell into the underbrush, drawing the attention of the warriors. It was as if the squirrels were helping to lure away the Estonians, one dropped nut at a time. Whatever the case, the squirrels contributed to the attention of the Estonians shifting away safely from the hollow tree and the hiding king. The Estonians eventually tired of searching for king Valdemar and walked back to their comrades.

Fearing whether he could return to his countrymen, but having no other choice, Valdemar crawled out of the hollow tree and slowly and carefully made his way back to the Danish garrison. As he set off, he found a few hazelnuts dropped by the squirrels (or unearthed from their nut hiding places) and felt a strange compulsion to eat them. After consuming the hazelnuts, he felt his strength return, giving him a new vigour to lead his soldiers and fight the clever and formiddable Estonians.

The king barely managed to sneak back into the Danish stronghold, already under fierce attack by the Estonians. He came across Anders Sunesen, the Archbishop of Lund, kneeling on the ground and praying desperately, his hands and eyes raised to the heavens. Suddenly, there was a bright light among the clouds and the amazed Danes saw a red banner with a white cross falling from the sky. They picked up the fallen gift from above and the king announced he would lead them to victory under this banner.

Truly, this is God's Providence at work, thought Valdemar II. He rescued my life with the help of the humblest of creatures. Now he has gifted us with this banner, to help us defeat our adversaries. In our misfortune, we have witnessed two miracles and we are now truly blessed ! From that day on, Valdemar II decreed that the banner sent by God would be the flag of the Danes, and that the squirrels that saved him from certain death would be the animal guardians of Denmark.

So goes the legend... In the words of a famous historian, "Maybe it happened that way... (smile) and maybe completely differently.".

Happy Earth Day to all.