Way up high, on a cloudy mountain called Olympus, lived all the Roman gods and goddesses. One of them was Vulcan. He was super strong and amazing at making things with fire and metal. Bang! Clang! His workshop was always noisy. He made thunderbolts for Jupiter, the king of the gods, and shiny chariots for the Sun god. But Vulcan wasn't as handsome as some of the other gods, and he walked with a little limp.

Now, there was also Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. Oh, she was so pretty! Everyone thought so. Jupiter decided that Vulcan should marry Venus. Maybe he thought Vulcan's hard work deserved a beautiful wife.

Vulcan was happy! But Venus... well, she wasn't so sure. She liked handsome, dashing gods, and Vulcan, while very clever, spent all his time in his hot, smoky workshop.

Venus started spending a lot of secret time with Mars, the god of war. Mars was strong, brave, and very good-looking. They thought no one would find out.

But the Sun god, who sees everything during the day, saw Venus and Mars together when they shouldn't be. The Sun god felt this wasn't right, so he zoomed over to Vulcan's workshop. "Vulcan," he said, "I have some news you won't like..."

Vulcan was very, very sad and then very, very angry. His fires burned extra hot that day! But Vulcan was also very clever. He didn't shout. Instead, he went to his forge and started working. He made a net. Not just any net! This net was made of the thinnest, strongest metal, so fine it was almost invisible. And once it caught something, it couldn't be broken.

Quietly, Vulcan spread this magic net over his and Venus's big, comfy bed. He hid it so well, no one could see it. Then he told Venus he was going away on a long trip.

As soon as Vulcan left, Venus invited Mars over. But when they got onto the bed – SNAP! The invisible net fell and wrapped them up tight! They couldn't move an inch! Oh dear, they were caught!

Vulcan hadn't really gone far. He came right back and threw open the bedroom doors. "Come and see!" he shouted to all the other gods on Mount Olympus. "Come and see what I've caught!"

All the gods and goddesses came rushing. When they saw Venus and Mars tangled in the net, some tried not to laugh, but it was hard. They looked so silly and embarrassed.

Venus and Mars felt their faces turn red. They wished they could disappear.

Finally, Neptune, the god of the sea, said, "Alright, Vulcan, you've made your point. Let them go."

Vulcan, feeling a little better now that everyone knew, grumbled a bit but then undid the net. Venus and Mars scrambled out as fast as they could, feeling very sheepish.

And Vulcan went back to his workshop, perhaps to make something amazing, or maybe just to bang his hammer extra loud for a while.

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