Inti, the Sun god, slowly rose out of the Lake Titicaca. The sky was empty save for his bright presence. So he made the night sky and put the Moon in charge, created the stars and the planets. Then he decided to create the first humans. He made a huge mountain of rock and fashioned them out of it. But these first human creations were far from perfect. They hardly knew the ways of the world or how to survive it. Meanwhile in the lonely sky, the Moon had become the wife of the Sun god. They had two children — a boy and a girl. Out of pity for the poor creatures on earth, Inti decided to send his children down to guide them.
Without much of a choice in the matter Manco Capac (for that was the name of the son of Inti) and his sister (who we must simply refer to as sister for she was without a name) found themselves on the shores of Lake Titicaca. “I must leave you here now, my children,” said Inti with a tear in his eye for he was sad to see them go. He gave Manco a golden staff and said to him, “Take this rod of gold and go in search of the chosen land that is going to be your home. You will know it is the right place when the earth swallows this staff whole.”
“Yes father,” replied Manco Capac taking the golden staff from the Sun god.
“When you find that place, you will build a city there and call it Cuzac. In that special city, you will teach the people the powers of the Sun,” said Inti and, blessing his children, he rose to the sky. Manco Capac and sister looked around them. There was nothing but wilderness. They travelled a long way through the harsh terrain of the Andes mountains. Every now and then they would stop to see if the golden staff would go into the ground.But it didn’t. The journey was long and hard, but the children of the Sun walked on tirelessly with their staff in hand.
At last they came to a breathtakingly beautiful valley. The sister smiled at Manco Capac; the beauty of the place had washed away her tiredness.
“Maybe the Earth mother will swallow the rod here...” she whispered to her brother. Manco struck the golden rod into the earth. Without effort, it disappeared deep underground! They had indeed found the spot their father had wanted them to.
Together, they gathered all the people. The children of the Sun were really beautiful and spoke kindly to them. Manco taught the men how to plough fields and plant crops. He taught them how to build houses too. His sister taught the women how to weave and to cook food. They spoke to them about their father the Sun god, his powers and principles of law.
Under the guidance of Manco, they built the city of Cuzac in that sacred spot the Sun god had chosen for them. Thus Manco Capac became the first ruler of the Inca people as they came to be called and Cuzac the capital of the Inca Empire. The Incas lived in the rugged Andes Mountains in South America from 1400 to the 1500s.Even now you can see the ruins of the Temple of the Sun in Cuzac.