Once upon a Time

Once upon a Time was the third Tom Bombadil poem in "Hobbit verse", written by J.R.R. Tolkien, published in October 1965 within Caroline Hillier's Winter's Tales for Children 1 and again in Lin Carter's collection The Young Magicians in 1969. It has also been reprinted in the appendix to 2014 edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book along with "Tom Bombadil: A Prose Fragment" and an earlier version, "An Evening in Tavrobel".
== First stanza ==
:Once upon a day on the fields of May
:there was snow in summer where the blossom lay:
:the buttercups tall sent up their light
:in a stream of gold, and wide and white
:there opened in the green-grass skies
:the earth-stars with their steady eyes
:watching the Sun climb up and down.
:Goldberry was there with a wild-rose crown,
:Goldberry was there in a lady-smock
:blowing away a dandelion clock,
:stooping over a lily-pool
:and twiddling the water green and cool
:to see it sparkle round her hand:
:once upon a time in elvish land.
== In other versions ==
=== A Dream of Coming Home ===
=== A Memory of July in England ===
=== July ===
=== Two Eves in Tavrobel ===
=== An Evening in Tavrobel ===
The fifth version of the poem was titled An Evening in Tavrobel in 1924. It was published in Leeds University Verse 1914-24 and is printed in Appendix II of the 2014 edition of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book.
:'Tis the time when May first looks toward June,
:With almond-scented hawthorn strewn.
:The tremulous day at last has run
:Down the gold stairways of the Sun,
:Who brimmed the buttercups with light
:Like a clear wine she spillèd bright;
:And gleaming spirits there did dance
:And sip those goblets' radiance.The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book, Appendix II
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Afrikaans 	Eens op 'n tyd
Albanian 	Njëherë e një kohë
Arabic 	كان ياما كان
Armenian 	Մի անգամ հեքիաթում
Azerbaijani 	Biri var idi, biri yox idi
Basque 	Bazen behin
Belarusian Cyrillic	Аднойчы ў казцы
Bengali 	একসময়
Bosnian 	Jednom davno
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Имало едно време
Catalan 	Hi havia una vegada
Chinese 	在很久很久以前
Croatian 	Jednom davno
Czech 	Kdysi dávno
Dari 	روزگاری بود
Dutch 	Er was eens
Estonian 	Kunagi ammu
Filipino 	Noong unang panahon
French 	Il était une fois
Friulian 	Une volte une volte
Japanese 	ワンス・アポン・ア・タイム
Galician 	Érase unha vez
Georgian 	ოდესღაც
German 	Es war einmal
Greek 	Μια φορά κι έναν καιρό
Hebrew 	פעם, לפני שנים רבות
Hindi 	एक समय की बात है
Hungarian 	Egyszer régen
Icelandic 	Einu sinni var
Italian 	C'era una volta
Kannada 	ಒಂದಾನೊಂದು ಕಾಲದಲ್ಲಿ
Korean 	원스 어폰 어 타임
Kurdish 	Rojekê (Kurmanji) (Sorani) سەردەمانێک
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Качандыр бир кезде
Laotian 	ມີຄັ້ງນຶ່ງ
Latvian 	Reiz sensenos laikos
Lithuanian 	Kažkada seniai
Luxembourgish 	Eemol op enger Zäit
Macedonian Cyrillic	Еднаш одамна
Malayalam 	ഒരു കാലത്ത്
Maltese 	Darba darba
Manx 	Keayrt dy row
Marathi 	एके काळी
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Нэгэн цагт
Norwegian 	En gang i tiden
Occitan 	Un còp èra
Pashto 	یو ځل په یو وخت کې
Persian 	روزی روزگاری
Polish 	Dawno, dawno temu
Portuguese 	Era uma vez
Punjabi 	ਇਕ ਵਾਰ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਹੋ
Romanian 	A fost odată ca niciodată
Scottish Gaelic 	Uair dhe na h-uairean
Serbian 	Једном давно (Cyrillic) Jednom davno (Latin)
Sicilian 	Na vota c'era
Sindhi 	هڪ پيرو
Sinhalese 	එකමත් එක කලෙක
Slovak 	Kedysi dávno
Slovenian 	Nekoč pred davnimi časi
Somali 	Mar baa
Spanish 	Había una vez
Swedish 	En gång i tiden
Tajik Cyrillic 	Боре дар як замоне
Tamil 	ஒரு காலத்தில்
Tatar 	Бервакыт
Telugu 	ఎప్పుడో ఒకప్పుడు
Thai 	เมื่อกาลครั้งหนึ่ง
Turkish 	Bir varmış
Turkmen 	Bir Wagtlar
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Колись давно
Uzbek 	Бир Пайтлар (Cyrillic) Bir Paytlar (Latin)
Vietnamese 	Ngày xửa ngày xưa
Yiddish 	אַמאָל אַ מאָל
Yoruba 	Ni akoko kan sẹyin
==References==
Category:Poems in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil