Wit & Wisdom

Roger Jenkins
 storyteller

© Roger Jenkins 2011    Made With Serif WebPlus.

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A great while ago, when the world was full of wonders...

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A long time ago - and yet perhaps it wasn't such a very long time ago - there lived...

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A long time ago, long ago, so long ago that no one can remember, and no tree can remember, and no rock can remember; so long ago that there were no people, and there were no trees, and the rocks had not been made...

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A story, a story, let it come, let it go. (Traditional West African)

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At the time when men and animals were all the same and spoke the same language... (Traditional Navajo opening)

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Back, far back, in the mists of time when the world was very young...

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Before the beginning of time, before the beginning of everything, before there was a beginning...

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Long ago, so long ago, I wasn't there or I wouldn't be here now to tell you the tale...
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Once on the far side of yesterday...

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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.

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In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, in a little village, there lived... (Russian)

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In a land that never was in a time that could never be...

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In a place, neither near nor far, and a time, neither now nor then...

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In olden times when wishing still helped...

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It happened, it did not happen, it perhaps could have happened in the tents of our neighbors.

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It sometimes happened in the long ago...

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Once on a time and twice on a time, and all times together as ever I heard tell of...
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Once upon a time, and a very good time too, though it was not in my time, nor your time, nor for the matter of that in any one's time ... (English Fairy Tales)

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Once upon a time what happened did happen - and if it had not happened, you would never have heard this story. (Andrew Lang)

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Once upon a time, after the invention of teenagers but before there were shopping malls for teenagers to hang around in... (Tales from the Brothers Grimm and the Sisters Weird)

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Once upon a time, when the grass grew greener, the trees grew taller, and the sun shone more brightly than it does today, there was a ....
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Once upon a time, so long ago, nobody but the storytellers remember...

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One Way-Back Day...

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Some people don't believe what they are told. They only believe what they see ...

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This was in the time that's gone by, and I'm going to tell you a story 'bout it.
is too much of a cliche - and a guaranteed turn-off for anyone over the age of 7!  
Different cultures around the world have traditional interactive openings: in Jamaica, the teller calls ‘Crick!’ and the audience go ‘Crack!’   This kind of ice-breaker gets the teller and the audience on the same page.    
I once heard Robert & Nancy from Eth-No-Tec start with a routine from Bhutan (?) in which they began with Dingbo, dingbo dingbo - to which the audience go Dangbo, dangbo, dangbo! It looks silly on the screen doesn’t i? But with an audience, you play around with the rhythm and inflexion eg: singsong; the first two dingbos fast and the third with an extended highpitched diiiiiiing before falling on the -bo!.
Here are 25+ alternative ways to begin: