History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends How to Write A Good Fairy Tale | Page 35

FAIRY TALE OPENINGS
A fable! A fable! Bring it! Bring it!(Kanuri)
A great while ago, when the world was full of wonders...
A long time ago - and yet perhaps it wasn't such a very long time ago there lived...
A long time ago in Estonia, people didn't have bathtubs in their houses.
A long time ago, the old people say...
A long time ago, long ago, so long ago that no one can remember, and no
tree can remember, and no rock can remember; so long ago that there were no
people, and there were no trees, and the rocks had not been made...
A Saam told this tale as he sat with his friends by the fire at night. He swore that all of it was
true. If you have nothing else to do, I will tell this tale to you.
A story, a story, let it come, let it go. (Traditional West African opening)
At a time when the rivers were made of chocolate and wishes could come true...
At the time when men and animals were all the same and spoke the same
language... (Traditional Navajo opening)
Back, far back, in the mists of time when the world was very young...
Back in the days when animals could talk...
Back when the world was young, and the humans and the animal people could
speak to each other...
Before the beginning of time, before the beginning of everything, before
there was a beginning...
Before the world became as it is today...
Beyond the woods, beyond the seas, beyond high mountains lived a frightful dragon.
(Chuvash)
Did you ever hear the story of...?
Everyone knows...
Far away and just as long ago...
Far away in a hot country, where the forests are very thick and dark, and the rivers very swift
and strong, there once lived...(African)
Far beyond the edge of the world there lived...