History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends How to Write A Good Fairy Tale | Page 39

Once there was, once there was, and once there was
not...
Once there was, one day there will be: this is the beginning of every fairy tale. There is no 'if'
and no 'perhaps,' the three-legged stool unquestionably has three legs. (Breton)
Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, when pigs were swine and
dogs ate lime and monkeys chewed tobacco, when houses were thatched with
pancakes, streets paved with plum pudding, and roasted pigs ran up and down
the streets with knives an forks in their backs crying 'come and eat me'!
(_Jack the Giant Killer_ coll. by Katharine M. Briggs)
Once upon a time, and a very good time too, though it was not in my time,
nor your time, nor for the matter of that in any one's time... (English
Fairy Tales)
Once upon a time, a long long time ago, when mice ran after cats and lions
were chased by rats... (Romania, Pellowski, _World of Storytelling_)
Once upon a time and twice upon a time, and all times together as even I heard tell of...
(English fairy tales)
Once upon a time in the very middle of the middle of a large kingdom, there was a town, and
in the town a palace, and in the palace a king. (Andrew Lang)
Once upon a time, so long ago no one remembers when and where... (Chuck
Larkin)
Once upon a time, not in your time nor in my time, but in a very good time...
Once upon a time, not your time, nor my time, but one time.
Once upon a time there lived a king, like many others...
Once upon a time, very long ago, a strange thing happened on a high mountain...
Once upon a time what happened did happen - and if it had not happened, you would never
have heard this story. (Andrew Lang)
Once upon a time, not your time, nor my time, but one time.
Once upon a time when the birds ate lamb and the monkeys chewed tobacco up
a tree...
Once upon a time, after the invention of teenagers but before there were
shopping malls for teenagers to hang around in... (_Tales from the Brothers
Grimm and the Sisters Weird_)
Once upon a time, and a very good time it was too, when the streets were
paved with penny loaves and houses were whitewashed with buttermilk and the
pigs ran around with knives and forks in their snouts shouting 'eat me'
'eat me'. ("King of Ireland's Son",_Irish Folktales_)