Most of us grew up with the same three words: “Once upon a time.” They work like a key, unlocking the door to another world. What many people don’t realize is that almost every culture has its own version of that key—sometimes quiet and simple, sometimes wild and wonderful. In Korea, stories often begin “back when tigers used to smoke.” In Turkey they start with a tongue-twisting flourish about fleas who were barbers and camels who were town-criers. In parts of West Africa the storyteller and audience call back and forth before the tale even begins. These openings do more than set the scene; they signal that ordinary rules no longer apply. Here is a small collection of those magical first lines from around the world.
Many cultures use a stock phrase that signals “we’re entering story-time,” often placing the events in a distant, ambiguous, or magical past.
Europe
- English: “Once upon a time…”
- French: “Il était une fois…” (“There was once…”)
- German: “Es war einmal…” (“It was once…”) or “In den alten Zeiten, als das Wünschen noch geholfen hat…” (“In the old days, when wishing still helped…”)
- Italian: “C’era una volta…” (“There was once…”)
- Spanish: “Érase una vez…” or “Había una vez…”
- Portuguese: “Era uma vez…”
- Dutch: “Er was eens…”
- Danish / Norwegian: “Der var engang…” / “Det var en gang…” (“There was once…”)
- Swedish: “Det var en gång…”
- Polish: “Za siedmioma górami, za siedmioma lasami…” (“Beyond seven mountains, beyond seven forests…”)
- Czech: “Bylo nebylo…” (“There was, there was not…”) or “Za devatero horami…” (“Beyond nine mountains…”)
- Hungarian: “Egyszer volt, hol nem volt…” (“Once there was, where there wasn’t…”)
- Russian: “Жил-был…” (“There lived, there was…”) or “В тридевятом царстве, в тридесятом государстве…” (“In the thrice-ninth kingdom, in the thrice-tenth realm…”)
- Romanian: “A fost odată ca niciodată…” (“There once was, as never before…”)
- Greek (Modern): “Μια φορά κι έναν καιρό…” (“Once upon a time and once upon an era…”)
- Irish: “Fadó, fadó in Éirinn…” (“Long, long ago in Ireland…”)
- Catalan: “Hi havia una vegada…” or more playfully “Això era i no era…” (“This was and was not…”) or “Once upon a time, when the beasts spoke and people were silent…”
Middle East & Central Asia
- Arabic (Classical / many dialects): “Kān yā mā kān, fī qadīmi-z-zamān…” (“There was, oh what there was [or wasn’t], in the oldest of days and ages…”)
- Persian (Farsi): “Yeki bud, yeki nabud…” (“Someone was, someone wasn’t…”) or “Ruzi, ruzgāri…” (“One day, one time…”)
- Turkish: “Bir varmış, bir yokmuş. Evvel zaman içinde, kalbur saman içinde…” (“Once there was, once there wasn’t. In the long-distant days of yore, when haystacks were winnowed in sieves, when fleas were barbers, when camels were town-criers…”)
- Armenian: “Linum e, chi linum…” / “Gar u chgar…” (“There was, there was not…”)
- Azerbaijani / Kurdish: Similar “there was and there was not” formulas
East & South Asia
- Korean: “호랑이 담배 피우던 시절에…” (“Back in the days when tigers used to smoke…”) or the more neutral “옛날 옛적에…” (“In the old days, in olden times…”)
- Japanese: “昔々…” (Mukashi mukashi… – “Long, long ago…”)
- Chinese (Mandarin): “很久很久以前…” (Hěnjiǔ hěnjiǔ yǐqián… – “A very, very long time ago…”) or “从前…” (Cóngqián… – “Once upon a time…”)
- Hindi: “बहुत पुरानी बात है…” (“It’s a very old story…”) or “किसी ज़माने में…” (“In one era…”)
- Bengali: “এক যে ছিল রাজা…” (“Once there lived a king…”) or “এক দেশে ছিল…” (“In a country there was…”)
- Tamil: “ஒரே ஒரு ஊரிலே…” (“In that only place…”)
- Telugu: Often starts with something like “Having been said and said and said…”
- Filipino / Tagalog: “Noong unang panahon…” (“In the first of times…” / “At the beginning of time…”)
Africa
- Hausa (West Africa): “A story, a story. Let it go, let it come.”
- Yoruba (Nigeria/Benin): “Here is a story! Story it is.”
- Somali: “Sheeko, sheeko, sheeko xariir…” (“Story, story, a story of silk…”)
The Americas & elsewhere
- Chilean / Latin American Spanish traditions: Often interactive or instructional, e.g. “Listen to tell it, and tell it to teach it…” (with many playful variations)
- Caribbean Creole (some traditions): Call-and-response – storyteller: “E dit kwik?” Audience: “Kwak!”
- “En esos tiempos…” (“In that time…”) or (“In that era…”)
- Māori (New Zealand): Frequently begins with genealogy linking the story to earth, sky, and ancestors before the narrative proper starts
Common patterns across cultures
Many openings do one or more of these things:
- Place the story in a distant or impossible past (“when tigers smoked,” “when fleas were barbers,” “beyond seven mountains”)
- Play with existence itself (“there was and there was not”)
- Involve the audience or the storyteller directly
- Signal that normal rules of reality are suspended
These formulas are especially strong in oral traditions, where they act as a ritual doorway into the story. Written collections (Grimm, Perrault, Andersen, Afanasyev, etc.) sometimes preserve or adapt them.
##
Connect