Why do some stories start with Once upon a time?

  I guess back...a long time ago, old folk tales and fairy tales.

     Do some stories still start that way???



No, not all stories, but I guess long ago people would tell stories starting with the words "Once Upon a time" they would always start with those words and add in something special like a princess being saved by a handsome knight, or old folk tales that would be from their own lives.

So, when did the start of 'once upon a time' come from, and is gone with the ages?



Well it started around the 1300's when fairy tales started to appear. Old fairy tales of times past on. In the Grimm novels, when he wrote about Sleeping Beauty or Cinderlla, it is nothing like the ones you see on Disney. It seems in Sleeping Beuty, let's just say...

As she sleeps, the king comes in, and well *he impregnates her* She ends up having children when she wakes.
   With Cinderella, her step sisters cut off their toes so they would fit in the glass slipper, filling it with blood.

So, was it the fairytale that gave us once upon a time? I don't think so. But now, I feel as if hearing those words will make a fairy tale appear.

There's even a TV show called Once Upon a time that involves fairy tale characters in strange situations. Never saw the show, but it does have a snow white or a Cinderella, wicked witch, you name it.

I guess sometimes, even starting with the words 'once upon a time' could make it classic, or a gem, even with it ending with the words: "they all lived happily ever after"