In my German class we had several writing exercises last week where we wrote in the style of a Grimm’s fairytale. This was in order to practice a particular grammar point that happens to be quite common when telling a story. Anyway, they taught us how to say the typical opening of one of those stories:

Es war einmal, “Once upon a time”

Literally, the German words would be translated as “it was one time”, but I get that Es war einmal is a stock phrase used in these situations, and it seems fairly comparable to the English phrase, “Once upon a time,” which is also a stock phrase, used primarily (only?) in fairy tales.

But knowing the opening line then begged the question as to what the standard closing line was in a German fairy tale.

Now, the Grimm Brothers are some of the most famous German fairytale writers around. I’ve always assumed that the standard opening and closing lines actually come from the original German versions of their fairy tales, which were later translated into English.

So, theortically at least,  the English phrase, “And they all lived happily ever after” must be based on the original German stories, right?

Well, not quite.

Here’s the standard German sentence that ends all the fairy tales:

Wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute.
“If they didn’t die, they are still alive today.”

Well, can’t argue with the logic there, I guess.  It just doesn’t have the same upbeat ring to it as the English version. Of course, it is more flexible, since you can use it equally well for fairy tales that end both happily and not. And I do remember that, in  the big book of fairy tales I had when I was a kid, not all of the stories ended well. But somewhere along the line, I guess I did come to associate the concept of a “fairy tale ending” to be one where people lived happily ever after. It’s odd to me to adjust to the idea that in the original stories, just being alive at the end was enough to qualify it as a “fairy tale” ending.

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While I’ve previously posted this clip from the Broadway musical Once Upon a Mattress, it’s worth another look given the topic of today’s post. I do wonder what the composers would have done for a song title and refrain if the English fairy tales had ended differently.