• Saturn

    Roman Mythology
    Have you ever heard of the sky and the earth having babies? Well, a super, super long time ago, they did! The Sky was a dad named Caelus, and the Earth was a mom named Terra. They had many children, but Caelus wasn't a very nice dad. He was a bit grumpy and scared of how strong his children were, so he kept some of them locked away deep inside the Earth. This made Terra very, very sad.

    Terra asked her other children, the Titans, "Who will help me stop your father from being so mean?"
    Only Saturn, who was brave and clever, said, "I will, Mom!"
    Terra gave Saturn a special, super-sharp sickle. Saturn waited for the right moment, and then, with a quick whoosh of the sickle, Caelus wasn't the boss of the universe anymore. Now Saturn was the king!

    Saturn married a kind goddess named Ops, and they started to have children. But Saturn heard a secret whisper, like the wind, that said, "Be careful, Saturn! One of your own children will grow up to be more powerful than you and take your place as king!"
    Oh no! Saturn didn't like the sound of that at all. He wanted to be king forever! So, he came up with a plan, but it wasn't a very nice plan. Every time Ops had a new baby, Saturn would open his big mouth and… GULP! He’d swallow the baby whole, just like that! He swallowed Hestia, then Demeter, then Hera, then Hades, and then Poseidon. Poor Ops was heartbroken to see her babies disappear.

    When their next baby, Jupiter, was about to be born, Ops thought, "I can't let this happen again!" So, she came up with a very clever trick. As soon as baby Jupiter was born, Ops quickly wrapped a big, smooth stone in a soft, warm blanket. She gave the stone-baby to Saturn.
    "Here is our new child," she said, trying to look normal.
    Saturn, not looking too closely, just opened his mouth and… GULP! He swallowed the stone, thinking it was baby Jupiter.
    Phew! Ops quickly and secretly sent baby Jupiter far away to an island called Crete. There, kind nymphs (like nature fairies) and a friendly goat named Amalthea took care of him, feeding him milk and honey until he grew up big and strong.

    When Jupiter was all grown up, he learned about what Saturn had done to his brothers and sisters. He knew he had to save them. So, he found a way to give Saturn a special drink.
    Saturn drank it, and his tummy started to feel very rumbly and wobbly. Then… BLURP! Out popped the stone he had swallowed! And then… BLURP, BLURP, BLURP, BLURP, BLURP! Out popped Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, all grown up and very surprised to be out in the world again!

    Well, Saturn was not happy to see them all. A huge, noisy squabble started between Saturn and his Titan brothers and sisters on one side, and Jupiter and his newly freed Olympian brothers and sisters on the other. It was a long, long tussle, with lots of rumbles and flashes!
    In the end, Jupiter and his siblings were stronger and smarter. They won the big fight! Jupiter became the new king of all the gods and the sky.

    And what about Saturn? After all that, he eventually went to a land called Italy. And guess what? He became a really good and kind king there. Everyone was happy, there was always plenty of food, and people didn't fight. It was such a wonderful time that people later called it the "Golden Age." So, even though he started off a bit grumpy and scared, Saturn got to rule over a happy, peaceful time in the end.

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