"Originality is nothing by judicious plagiarism" ~Voltaire

I will make no excuses for ignoring my blog for the last two weeks.  Yes, I admit it, but I’m back and ready to blog.

So, I've just been longing to write a story.  Some sort of story that begins with "Once upon a time..."  But I just don't seem to have anything after that... so I won't even try.  I will, however present to you Wikipedia's list of traditional story beginnings and endings from around the world:

Equivalent phrases are also used in many other languages to begin a fable or tale:

• Albanian: Na ishte një herë.. 'Once there was...'.
• Afrikaans: Eendag, lank gelede... 'One day, a long time ago...'
• Algerian Arabic: Hajitek ma jitek (حجيتك ما جيتك) 'I've told you what's coming'
• Classical Arabic: kân yâ mâ kân fî qadîmi zzamân wsalifî al`aSri wal'awân...(كان يا ما كان،في قديم الزمان، وسالف العصر والأوان) 'There was, oh what there was (or there wasn't) in the oldest of days and ages and times...'
• Assamese: Bahut dinor agot... 'Long time ago...'
• Armenian: Կար-չկար... 'There was, there was not...'
• Bulgarian: Имало едно време... 'There was, once upon a time...'
• Catalan: Hi havia/això era una vegada 'There was a time...'Temps era temps... 'Time was time...'
• Chinese: T: "很久很久以前" ("lit. A very very long time ago...")
• Croatian: Jednom davno... 'Once, a long time ago...' 
• Czech: Bylo nebylo,... 'There was, there was not...'
• Ekoti (Mozambique, Bantu): Rakú z'éepo waarí-vó oswááipu nwúlw'eéne saána 'Once upon the time, there was a truly great friendship...'.
• Danish: Der var engang... or Engang for længe siden... 'There was, once...' or 'Once a long time ago...', respectively. Common endings: Og de levede lykkeligt til deres dages ende. 'And they lived happily until the end of their days.' and Og hvis de ikke er døde, lever de endnu. 'And if they're not dead, they still live.'
• French: Il était une fois 'There was a time... ' Common ending ... ils vécurent heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants '... they lived happily and had many children'.
• German: Es war einmal... 'Once there was...' ...und sie lebten glücklich und zufrieden bis ans Ende ihrer Tage. '...and they lived happily and contentedly until the end of their days.', alternatively ...und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute. '...and if they haven't died yet, they are still living today.'
• Georgian: "Iko da ara iko ra, iko..." 'There was, and there was not, there was...'
• Goemai (Nigeria, West Chadic): Tamtis noe lat/ dok ba muaan yi wa 'My tale has finished, (it) has returned to go (and) come home.'
• Greek: Μια φορά κι έναν καιρό... 'Once, in another time...'
• Gujarati: ઘણાં વર્ષો પહેલાંની વાત છે.('This is an old story.') or એક જમાનામાં..('In one era, ..') or વર્ષો પહેલાં ('A long back')
• Hebrew: Hayo hayah pa'am... (הָיֹה הָיָה פעם) 'There once was...'
• Hindi किसी ज़माने में ('In one era, ...') or बहुत पुरानी बात है ('It's an old story, ...')
• Hungarian: Egyszer volt, hol nem volt, volt egyszer egy... 'Once there was, where there wasn't, there was a...'
• Icelandic: Einu sinni var… 'Once there was…'
• Indonesian: Dahulu kala... 'Long time ago...'
• Iraqw (Tanzania, Kenya, Cushitic) tokaro-yâ 'once upon a time'.
  • In oral literature, phrases like "I remember something that our father told me and that is this:" are common (Iraqw: Kar aníng te-'ée' to-ká a inhláw ar aakó doo-rén ni alki'-a i tí).
• Irish: Fadó, fadó, fadó a bhí ann (agus bhí rí i nGaillimh) 'A long, long, long time ago it was (and there was a king in Galway.)
• Italian: C'era una volta... 'Once there was...'. Common ending: ...e vissero per sempre felici e contenti. '...and they lived forever happy and glad.'
• Japanese: Mukashi mukashi (昔昔, 昔々, むかしむかし). 'A long time ago...'
• Korean: Yet-nal Yet-jeok-e... (옛날 옛적에...). 'A long, long time ago...'; Yet-nal Yet-jeok-e, Ho-rang-i Dambae pidun shi-jul-e ... (옛날 옛적에, 호랑이 담배피던 시절에...). 'A long, long time ago, in the days when tigers smoked...'
• Kannada: Ondanondu kaaladalli.... 'Once, in a long past age,...'
• Kyrgyz: илгери-илгери... 'ilgeri-ilgeri... 'A long, long time ago...'
• Latin: Olim... 'At that time'
• Latvian: Reiz sen senos laikos... 'Once long ago in times long gone'
• Lithuanian: Vieną kartą... 'Once upon the time'
• Luxembourgish: Et wor emol... 'It was once'
• Macedonia: Си беше еднаш... 'Once upon the time there was...'
• Malayalam: Pandu Oridathu... 'Long ago...'
• Malay language ( Malaysia )Pada suatu masa dahulu...' Once Upon a Time'
• Maragoli Kenyan language related to other Luhya languages. Mmadikhu ga khaare (in olden days).
• Maltese Mela darba... (Once...).
• Mongolia: Эртээ урьдын цагт 'Once Upon a Time'
• Moroccan Arabic: Hajitek ma jitek (حجيتك ما جيتك) 'I've told you what's coming'
• Norwegian: Det var en gang... 'There was, once...'
• Persian: "روزی روزگاری" (Rouzii, Rouzegaarii). 'One day, One time'; or: "یکی بود، یکی نبود، غیر از خدا هیچ کس نبود" (yekii boud, yekii naboud, gheyr az Khoda hich kas naboud). 'There was one, there wasn't one, there was no one beside the Lord'
• Polish: Dawno, dawno temu... 'Long, long time ago...'
• Portuguese: Era uma vez... 'There was, once...' Common ending: "... e viveram felizes para sempre" (... and they lived happily forever)
• Romanian: A fost odata, ca niciodata... 'There once was (as never before)...'
• Russian: Varies by the gender and number of the character(s) introduced at the beginning: Жил-был (zhil byl) (one male), жила-была (zhila byla) (one female), жило-было (zhilo bylo) (one neuter), жили-были (zhili byli) (plural): Correctly "had lived" (a stray survival of the disused Russian pluperfect), but nowadays liable to be understood as "lived, was". Жили-были is often preceded by «Давным-давно, в тридевятом царстве, в тридесятом государстве» (“A long long time ago, in the twenty-seventh kingdom, in the thirtieth state”, here an old numerical system is used, literally “in the kingdom three-times-ninth, in the state three-times-tenth”.)
• Sanskrit: Pūrākāle (पुराकाले) 'In the ancient time...', Kadājit (कदाचित्) 'Once upon the time'/'At any time'
• Scots: "In the days of auld lang syne"
• Serbian: Common beginning: Једном давно.../Некада давно... 'Once, a long time ago...', Била једном једна...(feminine)/Био једном један...(masculine)/Било једном једно...(neuter) 'There once was one...', Common ending: ...и живеше сретно/срећно до краја живота. '...and they lived happily for the rest of their lives.', ...и живеше дуго и сретно/срећно. '...and they lived long and happily.'
• Shona:"Paivapo"....(a long time ago,there existed)
• Sinhala:"එකමත් එක රටක"....(In a one country...)
• Slovak: Kde bolo - tam bolo... 'Where it was - there it was...'
• Slovene: Pred davnimi časi ... 'A long time ago...' or Nekoč ... 'Once...' 
• Spanish: Érase/Había una vez... 'There was, once...' Common ending: ... y vivieron felices para siempre/y comieron perdices. '...and they lived happy forever/and ate partridges.'
• Swahili (east African): "Hapo zamani za kale..." (a long time ago).
• Swedish: Det var en gång... or En gång för länge sedan... 'There was, once...', or 'Once, long ago...' respectively.
• Tagalog: Noong unang panahon... 'At the first time (a long time ago)...'
• Tamil language: முன்னொரு காலத்திலே...
• Telugu language: అనగనగా ఒక రోజు...
• Thai: กาลครั้งหนึ่งนานมาแล้ว 'Once upon the time (long ago)...'
• Turkish: Bir varmış, bir yokmuş. Evvel zaman içinde, kalbur saman içinde... 'Once there was, once there wasn't. In the old times, the sieve in a stack of hay...' *[1]
• Urdu: ایک دفعہ کا ذکر ہے۔۔۔ ('Ek dafa ka zikar hai...') 'Once upon a time...'
• Vietnamese: Ngày xửa ngày xưa... 'A long, long time ago...'
• Welsh: Amser maith yn ôl... 'A long time ago...'

My, how I wish I could read and pronounce all of these beautiful and funny phrases!  It sure is amazing how universal this language of story telling is.  In fact, I am thoroughly enjoying my English class, where we are learning about the hero's journey.  Perhaps you have noticed how all of your favorite fairy tale, Disney, and historical heroes have similarities.  Well, according to my English teacher and our hero-analyzing muse Joseph Campbell, author of "The Hero With A Thousand Faces," all of these heroes go through a similar path of self-discovery and triumph.  We have looked into Knights of the Round Table, the Buddha, and even Rocky to find these common motifs.  So far we have learned that all heroes must pass a threshold to begin their journey to heroism (Ashe from Pokemon becomes old enough to be a trainer), but only after recognizing a need in their lives or communities (Belle from Beauty and the Beast must save her father and fulfill her need for adventure).  All of these heroes have helpers and/or some muse-figure (Hercules has Phil to train him and Meg to distract him) and must ultimately face their greatest fears and weaknesses (Ron from Harry Potter hates spiders but is ironically dragged into the Forbidden Forest to speak with a pack of giant arachnids) and ultimately they reach an abyss (Dorothy almost gives up all hope of getting back to Kansas).  Upon returning to their communities they may be welcomed back as the heroes they are or perhaps shunned for their strange new ideas (Contrast the welcome of Prince Charming --pick one-- with the estrangement of "The Dark Knight").  You'll never be able to read a hero story or watch a Disney movie the same way again!

Sources:
image:  http://www.swoyersart.com/james_christensen/onceuponatime.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_upon_a_time