Once upon a time

"Once upon a time" is a 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 (according to the Oxford English Dictionary) 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", (literally "there was once"), the Brothers Grimm as a translation for the German "es war einmal" (literally "it was once") 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.

The "story-starting phrase" is a common feature of many languages.

(كان يا ما كان،في قديم الزمان، وسالف العصر والأوان)

(Čiri – ik′a, lxini – ak′a, k′at′o – ik′a, p′k′vili – ak′a)

भन्नेलार्इ फूलको माला; यो कथा बैकुन्ठ जाला, फेरी भन्ने बत्तिकै तात्तातै अाइजाला। || A Golden Garland to the listener, A flower Garland to the narrator; This story shall go to Vishnu's abode (Heaven), And come back hot(fresh) on someone else's (the next Narrator) lips. (Said in a rhyme.)

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Wikipedia