Back when tigers used to smoke, by Suzette Richards – image generated 25/8/2024
We are more accustomed to the opening lines ‘Once upon a time’ employed in fairytales. The difference between a fairytale and fantasy: A fantasy has a focus on the development of a different world and systems or magic, while a fairytale simply assumes that magic exists and is set in our world or a facsimile equivalent to it.
Many (not all) Korean folktales begin with the phrase ‘Back when tigers used to smoke’ which sets a whimsical tone for the story; while others do employ the well-known phrase ‘Once upon a time’ or an equivalent. This expression is unique to Korean storytelling and has a playful element to it. It reflects the cultural significance of tigers in Korean folklore, symbolising strength and power.
There are various options open to the poet to introduce and set the stage for a fantastical tale. Percy Bysshe Shelley begins his poem, Ozymandias (1818), with: ‘I met a traveller from an antique land / Who said:’, which in effect mimics the ‘Once upon a time’ phrase. Ozymandias is the Greek name for the Egyptian king, Ramesses II. He was famous for the number of architectural structure and his own statue he has created during his ruling period. Shelly by knowing the shattered condition of the statue wrote this poem to convey a moral that powerful people and their power is only temporary. It is loosely based on the sonnet form.
OZYMANDIAS, by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert…Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered village lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of command,
Tell that its sculptor well passion read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandian, king of Kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remain. Round and decay
Of the colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
What unique introduction to a poem would you employ to substitute the phrase: ‘Once upon a time’?
Happy quills!
Suzette