A long time ago in the beautiful kingdom of Mathura, there lived a very mean king named Kansa. He was not a good king at all! He was selfish and cruel, and everyone was afraid of him.

One day, Kansa heard something that made him really scared. A voice from the sky told him: "Kansa, listen carefully! The eighth child born to your sister Devaki will grow up to defeat you!"

Kansa was so frightened by this news that he did something terrible. When his sister Devaki got married to a good man named Vasudeva, Kansa decided to put both of them in prison! Can you believe it? He locked up his own sister!

"I will make sure that eighth child is never born!" Kansa declared. He ordered his guards to watch Devaki and Vasudeva all the time.

Poor Devaki and Vasudeva had to live in a dark prison with heavy chains on their hands and feet. Whenever Devaki had a baby, mean King Kansa would come to the prison and take the baby away. This happened six times, and Kansa hurt all six babies because he was so scared of the prophecy.

"Please don't hurt our children!" Devaki would cry, but Kansa wouldn't listen. He was only thinking about himself and staying king forever.

When Devaki was going to have her seventh baby, something magical happened! The baby, who was named Balarama, was secretly transferred to the womb of Rohini, another wife of Vasudeva who lived far away in a cowherd village called Gokul. This way, the baby was safe from Kansa.

Kansa thought that Devaki's seventh pregnancy had somehow disappeared, and he became even more watchful for the eighth baby - the one who was prophesied to defeat him.

Finally, the time came for the eighth baby to be born. On a dark, stormy night, something amazing happened in that prison. The whole cell began to glow with a beautiful blue light! Devaki was about to give birth to Lord Krishna himself, who had decided to come to Earth to defeat the evil Kansa.

When baby Krishna was born, he didn't look like a regular baby at all! He had four arms and was wearing beautiful jewelry and a crown! He was glowing with divine light. Devaki and Vasudeva knew right away that this was no ordinary child - this was the Supreme Lord in baby form!

The baby spoke to them in a grown-up voice: "Dear father and mother, you must take me to Gokul right away. Exchange me with the baby girl just born to Yashoda and Nanda, who are good people living in Gokul."

Just then, a miracle happened! All the guards fell into a deep sleep. The heavy prison doors unlocked by themselves, and the chains fell off Vasudeva's hands and feet!

Outside, it was raining very hard, but as Vasudeva carried baby Krishna on his head and walked toward the river, a giant snake named Sheshnaag appeared and spread its hood to keep the baby dry!

When Vasudeva reached the river Yamuna, the waters parted to make a path for him to cross. Everything in nature was helping to keep baby Krishna safe!