Once Upon a Version https://onceuponaversion.com/ Every tale was told by someone. en Aladdin: A Syrian Teller Gave It to Galland in Paris, 1709https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/aladdin-hanna-diyab/https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/aladdin-hanna-diyab/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTIn the sources checked here, Aladdin’s earliest known record is Galland’s diary for 5 May 1709: Hanna, a Maronite from Aleppo, had just told him the tale. Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books: His First Preface Omits Mrs. Langhttps://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/andrew-lang-fairy-books/https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/andrew-lang-fairy-books/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTAndrew Lang wrote in 1910 that his fairy books were “almost wholly the work of Mrs. Lang.” His 12 prefaces name her in 11, not in the Blue Fairy Book of 1889. Arabian Nights: Per Zotenberg, Galland’s Copy Ends Mid-Storyhttps://onceuponaversion.com/craft/arabian-nights-frame/https://onceuponaversion.com/craft/arabian-nights-frame/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTBy Zotenberg’s 1888 account, the copyist of the manuscript Galland translated stopped in night 281, with Scheherazade still telling; her pardon is not in it. Arsène Lupin: In the 1905 Story, the Narrator Is Lupinhttps://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/arsene-lupin-narrator/https://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/arsene-lupin-narrator/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTIn the earliest known Arsène Lupin story (Je sais tout, July 1905), the passenger who tells it is Lupin; the 1907 book adds a friend’s frame around his voice. Beauty and the Beast: Two French Tellers, 1740 and 1756https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/beauty-and-the-beast-versions/https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/beauty-and-the-beast-versions/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTVilleneuve published Beauty and the Beast in 1740 and Beaumont in 1756. In the scans counted here, Beaumont’s French runs about 13% of Villeneuve’s. Cupid and Psyche: In Apuleius, an Old Woman Tells the Talehttps://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/cupid-and-psyche-teller/https://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/cupid-and-psyche-teller/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTIn Apuleius’s Metamorphoses, Cupid and Psyche is told by an old woman in a robbers’ cave to a captive bride. Later tellers kept her, cut her or replaced her. Dr. Watson: Counted Here, 56 of 60 Holmes Stories Are Hishttps://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/detective-narrators/https://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/detective-narrators/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTDr. Watson narrates 56 of the 60 Sherlock Holmes stories, counted story by story. Holmes tells two, two are third-person, and Poe's friend did it in 1841. Brothers Grimm: Their ‘Peasant Woman’ Was a Tailor’s Wifehttps://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/dorothea-viehmann-brothers-grimm/https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/dorothea-viehmann-brothers-grimm/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Grimms’ 1815 preface calls Dorothea Viehmann a peasant woman. Her biography records an innkeeper’s daughter who married a tailor. Both prefaces, compared. Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Southey’s Intruder Was Oldhttps://onceuponaversion.com/craft/goldilocks-three-bears/https://onceuponaversion.com/craft/goldilocks-three-bears/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTSouthey’s 1837 intruder is an unnamed old woman. Cundall’s 1849 preface says he made her a girl; of four texts checked, only Steel’s 1918 calls her Goldilocks. The Goose Girl: Of 7 Editions Checked, Iron Stove From 1840https://onceuponaversion.com/craft/goose-girl-falada/https://onceuponaversion.com/craft/goose-girl-falada/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTIn the Grimms’ 1815 Goose Girl the princess confides in a tiled stove; in the 1857 text it is an iron one. Seven editions checked, with each repeated line. Grimm Fairy Tales 1–60: Counted Here, 21 Named Tellershttps://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/grimm-informants/https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/grimm-informants/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTBolte and Polívka’s 1913 notes on Grimm tales 1–60 name 21 tellers, 13 of them women, and 34 of 62 credits name Kassel. The register lists them entry by entry. The Mystery of Marie Rogêt: 1845 Rewrites the Serial’s Clueshttps://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/marie-roget-revisions/https://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/marie-roget-revisions/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTPoe’s Marie Rogêt ran as a serial in 1842–43, then in his 1845 Tales. Side by side: the 1845 text drops a confessed killer and allows an accident. Orpheus and Eurydice: In Plato, the Gods Show Him a Phantomhttps://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/orpheus-eurydice-versions/https://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/orpheus-eurydice-versions/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTIn Plato’s Symposium, the speaker Phaedrus says the gods showed Orpheus only a phantom: no rule, no look back. Five ancient tellings, compared motif by motif. Pandora’s Box: No Jar in the Theogony, One in Works and Dayshttps://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/pandoras-box-jar/https://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/pandoras-box-jar/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Theogony’s woman has no jar and no name. Of the two Hesiodic poems, only Works and Days gives Pandora a jar; the box, by the Panofskys’ account, came later. The Murders in the Rue Morgue: Its Narrator Knows the Endhttps://onceuponaversion.com/craft/rue-morgue-narrator/https://onceuponaversion.com/craft/rue-morgue-narrator/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTPoe’s narrator tells the Rue Morgue case once it is closed, yet gives its facts in the order he met them. Of 16 facts traced in the 1841 text, Dupin gives 12. Sleeping Beauty: In Basile and Perrault, No Kiss Wakes Herhttps://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/sleeping-beauty-basile-perrault-grimm/https://onceuponaversion.com/tellings/sleeping-beauty-basile-perrault-grimm/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTSleeping Beauty in Basile (printed 1636): twins draw out a splinter. Perrault (1697): the spell ends. Of 4 texts compared here, only 2 Grimm texts use a kiss. Anansi the Spider: In an Akan Tale, He Buys the Storieshttps://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/trickster-gods-compared/https://onceuponaversion.com/across-cultures/trickster-gods-compared/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTIn an Akan tale printed by R. S. Rattray in 1930, Anansi buys the Sky-god’s stories. Beside Hermes, Loki and Coyote, five texts share one motif in eight. Vidocq’s Memoirs: The 1828 Preface Admits Another Handhttps://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/vidocq-memoirs/https://onceuponaversion.com/mystery-tellers/vidocq-memoirs/Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMTVidocq’s Mémoires (1828–29) carry his name, yet their own preface says a reviser rewrote volume 1 and part of volume 2; a study cited by the BnF names two.