HOW TO WRITE BETTER FAIRY TALES - DEAN AMORY

Far, far away, beyond all sorts of countries, seas, and rivers, there stood a splendid city...
(Andrew Lang)
Far, far away in Russia, very long ago, there lived...(Russia)
Far, far away in the midst of a pine forest, there lived...
Here is a story! Let it come! Let it come
Here's a story I learnt from an owl. I told it to a king. He gave me a purse of gold and this pin.
[Papa Joe]
Hill and Vale do not meet, but the children of men do, good and bad...(The Two Travellers)
I daresay you have heard of...
I do not mean, I do not really mean that this story is true... (Ashanti)
I want to tell you now the story of ... (Tartar)
I will tell you a story which was told to me when I was a little boy/girl. Every time I thought of
the story, it seemed to me to become more and more charming, for it is with stories as it is
with many people: they become better as they grow older.
In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, in a little village, there
lived... (Russian)
In a certain realm, in a certain land...(Russian gypsy)
In a land that never was in a time that could never be...
In a place,neither near nor far, and a time, neither now nor then...
In ancient times, the old men say...
In ancient times, when the magpie was a Cossack chief and the duck a policeman, the bear
had a long stumpy tail, as splendid as Mistress Fox's. (Tartar)
In olden times, in times when rams were still without horns and sheep without tales, there
lived... (Kazakh)
In olden times when the Lord himself still used to walk about on this earthamong men... (Poor
Man and the Rich Man)
In olden times when wishing still helped...
In that long ago day...
In the beginning...
In the beginning, when the earth was set down the sky was lifted up, some things were not
quite finished.
In the days now long departed... (Scandinavian)