Once upon a time


"Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 in storytelling in the English language and has opened many oral narratives since 1600. These stories often then end with "and they all lived happily ever after", or, originally, "happily until their deaths".
The phrase is particularly common in fairy tales for younger children, where it is almost always the opening line of a tale. It was commonly used in the original translations of the stories of Charles Perrault as a translation for the French "il était une fois", of Hans Christian Andersen as a translation for the Danish "der var engang",, the Brothers Grimm as a translation for the German "es war einmal" and Joseph Jacobs in English translations and fairy tales.
The phrase is also frequently used in such oral stories as retellings of myths, fables, folklore and children's literature.

Other languages

The "story-starting phrase" is a common feature of many languages.
LanguageCommon beginningCommon beginning Common endingCommon ending
AlbanianNa ishte një herë...Once there was...Dhe ata jetuan lumtur pergjithmonëAnd they lived happy forever
AfrikaansEendag, lank gelede...One day, a long time ago...Fluit, fluit, die storie is uitWhistle, whistle, the story is done
Algerian ArabicHajitek ma jitek I've told you what's comingUnknownUnknown
Amharicበድሮ ዘመን...Once a long time ago...ተረቴን መልሱ አፌን በዳቦ አብሱ::Return my story and feed me bread.
Classical Arabickân yâ mâ kân fî qadîmi zzamân wsalifî al`aSri wal'awân...

There was, oh what there was in the oldest of days and ages and times...UnknownUnknown
Assameseবহুত দিনৰ আগত... Long time ago...UnknownUnknown
Eastern ArmenianԼինում է, չի լինում... There was, there was not...Երկնքից երեք խնձոր է ընկնում՝ Մեկը գրողին, մեկը պատմողին, մեկն էլ լսողին: 3 apples fall from the sky/heaven - one for the writer/author, one for the storyteller, one for the listener Note:
Western ArmenianԿայ ու չկայ There was, there was not...Երկինքէն երեք խնձոր կ՚իյնայ՝ Մէկը գրողին, մէկը պատմողին, մէկն ալ լսողին: (Yerginken yerek khntsor giyna` Megu kroghin, megu badmoghin, megn al lsoghin\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Modern variants

  • Don McLean's "American Pie" begins with the phrase "A long, long time ago...".
  • All nine of the Star Wars films, as well as several of the expanded universe novels, begin with the phrase "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....".
  • The musical Into the Woods begins with the Narrator's line, "Once upon a time." The second act commences with his line, "Once upon a time... later..." The musical is a retelling of many famous fairy tales.
  • In the Singaporean comedy series Under One Roof, Moses Lim's character Tan Ah Teck begins his stories with "Long before your time, in the southern province of China...".
  • In the 2010 Edgar Wright film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the opening scene narrates the words "Not so long ago, in the mysterious land of Toronto, Canada."
  • The opening line of the theme song to MST3k is: "In the not-too-distant future... next Sunday, A.D."
  • Bionicle features the line "In a time, before time...".
  • The opening line of the TV series Merlin features the line "In a land of myth, and a time of magic..."
  • The first episode of Ivor the Engine opens with the line "Not so very long ago, in the top left-hand corner of Wales..."
OWIKI.org. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.