Sword of Damocles

Imagine you are playing a game of balancing blocks on top of each other. If you keep adding blocks and they become too heavy, they might fall down and crash the game. In the same way, the Sword of Damocles is like a heavy block hanging over someone's head.

Long ago, there was a king named Damocles who thought that being a king was a very easy job and that he would be very happy if he were a king. So the king let him be king for a day, but when Damocles sat in the king's throne, he noticed that there was a sword hanging right above his head.

This was the Sword of Damocles. The sword was being held up by a horse's hair, and if the hair broke, the sword would fall right on Damocles' head and kill him. So even though Damocles was a king for a day and had all the luxuries that came with it, he could never really enjoy them because he was always worried about the sword that was hanging over his head.

Today, the expression "Sword of Damocles" is used to describe any situation where there is a constant threat that could cause harm or danger. So, when you hear about someone having a Sword of Damocles over their head, it means that they are constantly afraid of something bad happening to them.