This is the story of what happened to John the Baptist. Before this time, King Herod's brother Philip was married to a woman whose name was Her-road-ias (Herodias). But Her-road-ias left her husband and married King Herod. So John said to Herod, “You should not be with your brother's wife. You are breaking God's law!” Her-road-ias hated John for saying this and she wanted to kill him. But to stop Her-road-ias from hurting John, Herod sent some men to arrest John and keep him safe in jail. King Herod knew that John was a man that told God's messages and he liked talking to him. He respected John but he did not always understand what John was talking about and he was a little bit frightened of him too. On his birthday, Herod had a party. He invited all the leaders of his army, all the important government workers and community leaders from Galilee. At this party Her-road-ias got her chance to get back at John. Her-road-ias' daughter came in and danced at the party. Everyone liked her dancing so much that Herod said to her, “You have danced really well, and I want to give you a present. I promise you that you can ask for anything you want, even if I have to give you half of my country.” The girl did not know what to ask for, so she went outside and said to her mother, “King Herod wants to give me a present. What will I ask for?” Her mother said, “Go back in and ask for the head of John the Baptist.” Straight away the girl went back to the party and said to Herod, “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a big plate and I want it right now!” Herod was really sad to hear these words. But he did not want to break his promise and be shamed in front of all the people at the party. So he sent a man to cut off John's head and bring it back on a big plate. The man went to the jail. He cut off John's head and then he took it back to the party. Herod gave it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. When John's friends heard the bad news, they came and took his body away and buried it. Everywhere in that country, people were talking about Jesus and all the powerful things he was doing. Some people said Jesus was that old man from a long time ago named Elijah. Other people said that Jesus was like those men from a long time ago who told people God's messages. But some people reckoned that Jesus was really John the Baptist come back to life. When King Herod heard these stories he said, “I got a man to cut off John's head. So Jesus must be John the Baptist come back to life again! That is how he does all those powerful things.” And you can read this story in Matthew 14:13-21 in Luke 9:10-17 and in John 6:1-14