Adam Hodge, Grade 5 from Mrs. Fender's Class
How Mars Got Its Name
In the summer of 1357, there was born a little baby. His name was
Mars. When Mars was nine, he worked with his dad sharpening spears and
arrows. They also made Roman chariots and harnesses. When he was
eleven, Mars became a great young warrior. He was in every battle. In
one war, he got shot by a bow and arrow in his back. The leader took
him to the doctor, and he got it pulled out of him. When he was better,
he went right back to where he belonged....back in the battlefield. He
was eighteen when he became a great knight for King Kapachela. When he
was twenty, he got married to a very beautiful woman. Her name was
Meredith. Before too long she had a baby and they named him Deimos.
She had another baby and they named him Phobos. They helped him do
everything.
Meanwhile, Mars was thirty-one when he became king. He lived in a
big castle and was a great king. Phobos and Deimos were great warriors,
too. They became knights and helpers.
One day, Mars went to look out the window, and suddenly he saw an
army coming from the west. They came to kill him. He called all the good
warriors, even his two sons. They were in the kitchen eating and came
running. Mars' army won. Mars had a big knife cut in the back of his
leg. His wife, Meredith, put wraps on it. It bled for three days.
When Mars was one hundred and eighty-two, he was in a war and died.
His two sons died, too. Meredith was so mad that she jumped off a rock
ledge and died. That is how he became a war god.
Today they have named a planet after him, and the United States of
America is sending a machine up to study it. It is called the Mars
Global Surveyor. It will take pictures of it and map it. Soon, they
say, we can live on Mars.
