I loved today’s writing workshop and especially the activity that came in little eggs! Each egg contained the traditional words for starting a story from various countries around the world – ours being “Once upon a time…….” From that start we each wrote a story for 10 mins and I have never known time fly by quite so quickly. Mine was the Irish beginning. I shall ask our Ukrainian friends for the story beginning they use. 
A List of Beginnings
Arabic: ‘There was, oh what there was (or there wasn’t) in the oldest of days and ages and
times…’
Armenian: ‘There was, there was not…’
‘Three apples fall from the sky/heaven. One for the writer, one for the storyteller, one for the
listener…’
Czech: ‘Beyond seven mountain ranges, beyond seven rivers…’
Esperanto: ‘In a time already long past, when it was still of use to cast a spell…’
Estonian: ‘Beyond seven lands and seas, there lived a…’
Filipino: ‘At the beginning of time’, or ‘At the first time…’
German: ‘Back in the days when it was still of help to wish for a thing…’
Gujarati: ‘This is an old story.’
Hungarian: ‘Once there was, where there wasn’t, there was a…’
Irish: ‘A long, long, long time ago it was (and there was a king in Galway)’
Japanese: ‘Long ago, long ago…’
Korean: ‘In the time when a tiger used to smoke…’
Koti (Mozambique): ‘Once upon a time, there was a truly great friendship…’
Lithuanian: ‘Beyond nine seas, beyond nine lagoons…’
Persian: ‘Someone was, someone wasn’t…’
Romanian: ‘There once was, (as never before), because if there wasn’t, it wouldn’t have been
told…’
Russian: ‘In some kingdom, in some land, there lived/there was…’
Slovak: ‘When the water was being strewn and the sand poured…’
Tanzania: ‘I remember something that our father told me, and that is this:’
Turkish: ‘There was/lived in an exotic land far, far away, a/an…’
Walking through town later, I came across two sign-writers, very carefully repainting our direction signs. They were happy for me to take their photo, found it a very funny request and I could hear them laughing all the way down the street!
Just back from a brilliant evening of remembering the amazing protest camp at Greenham Common, hearing from some women who were actually there and singing some of their songs. Here’s one. ‘Hey Sister, Don’t You Weep.’
