The Tale of the Planets
Once upon a time, in days of yore, in a sieve of straw, within the boundless sky among millions of stars, there were seven planets. These planets ceaselessly revolved around the Sun and worked for it. Because of this, a great rivalry existed among them. Whenever they came together, they would constantly boast, each claiming to be the more important planet. This rivalry among them had grown so unbearable that it began turning into major quarrels.
One day, the Sun invited them all again. They all came one by one and began to chat. But once again, they started uttering words to praise themselves and to appear superior to the others.
Mercury was the first to speak. “Sun, I am the closest planet to you. In fact, because I am closer to you than the others, I am a hot planet. I am not cold like Mars,” he said, belittling Mars. Hearing this, Mars got angry and said, “I may be a cold planet, but I am quite a subject of curiosity for humans. None of you are researched as much as I am. People are conducting research to live here.” Hearing this, Earth chimed in, “Let people research as much as they want. I am the most reliable, most suitable planet for them. They call me the Blue Planet; I am the home of living beings.”
Then Venus got angry and said, “Earth, I look very much like you, so don’t think you’re so important!” But Jupiter immediately intervened, “You may look a lot like Earth, but you spin in the opposite direction. Besides, I am the largest planet among you. I also spin quite fast. Don’t think you are so important.” Amidst all this arguing, Uranus, not wanting to be left behind, immediately started praising himself, “I am different from all of you; I have a tilted appearance. I am not ordinary like you,” he said, showing off.
At that moment, as Neptune was preparing to speak to boast about himself, Saturn cut him off and said, “Don’t even start talking, Neptune. You are the farthest from the Sun. And look at me, I am more different than all of you. I have rings.” Annoyed by these arguments, the Sun scolded them, “You are all very important planets. Each of you has a purpose. While there are millions of small planets in the vast universe without even a name, you have names. By revolving around me, with your distance from me, your proximity, and many other characteristics, you are very important planets. This quarrel is utterly meaningless.”
And so, the planets looked at each other with embarrassment. They understood their mistakes and apologized to one another. Then, they all started singing as they revolved together around the Sun.
