# they lived happily ever after (the end of a fairy tale)



## Leopold

Hello everyone, 

I'd like to ask the foreros to contribute to the translation of this formula into as many languages as possible.

I'd like to know the ways of ending a children's story. Note that it is supposed to be a neutral ending ("and they lived happily ever after" is not neutral, it's intended for a happy ending and works just if the end of the tale is talking about people or animals).

In Spanish they are: 

"*Y colorín, colorado, este cuento se ha acabado*". 
[...]

Other options in Spanish are welcome (but that's not the point of this thread, so please refrain yourself and don't flood the thread with Spanish variants 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 thanks)

Other alphabets are very welcome too.

Thank you very much in advance.

Leo

[Edit] I've talked to the person who asked me this, and told me that "not neutral endings" are ok too. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Moderator's note: to know how to start a fairy tale, please have a look at this thread.


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## charlie2

I dare say most of the stories that chinese children are told have morals. That's at least the case when I was a kid. These stories always end with :這個故事教訓我們...... A strict "word for word" translation is : This story teaches us ...
As for the French version, I'd better leave it for the native speakers to contribute.
And they lived happily ever after :從此他們就快快樂樂地生活下去.
This exercise is really fun!


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## A.K

Hi, well, in Japanese it would be:

There is not a special way to finish a story in japanese. They just finish the story with the last events but always include at the end the word OWARI (this means THE END). OWARI, written in kanji is 終わり and written in hiragana (as I already said, for children) it is おわり

That's all.

終わり。


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## ayed

In Arabic language , the end of stories depends on the plot of that story :"
this is the end of so and so
هذه نهاية من ​
they lived happily 
وعاشوا بسعادة​
they became friends
واصبحوا اصدقاء​
he swore by Allah not to do so and so
وأقسم بالله بألا يفعل كذا وكذا​
I wish this could help you  .
Any question , pose it right here , please.
Ayed​


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## el alabamiano

charlie2 said:
			
		

> I dare say most of the stories that chinese children are told have morals. That's at least the case when I was a kid. These stories always end with :這個故事教訓我們...... A strict "word for word" translation is : This story teaches us ...


An equivalent in English is:

And the moral of the story is...


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## smorodina

Hi, Leo. 
In *Russian *if I remember correctly, the endings are usually:
Тут и сказке конец,
А кто слушал - молодец.

This little chant rhymes and literally means "This is the end of the story, and well done for having listened"

Dina


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## Jana337

*Czech*:

A zazvonil zvonec,
a pohádky je konec (it rhymes)

(A bell rang and that's the end of the story)

Jana


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## beatrizg

Hola a todos!
In *Greek*, an ending the most common is: 
"Kai zísan aftoí kalá ki emeís kalýtera!". 
Literal translation: And they lived well and we lived better!"

"...και ζήσαν αυτοί καλά κι εμείς καλύτερα."


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## haujavi

En *euskera *sería más o menos así

_*Colorín colorado este cuento se ha acabado=E**ta hau hala ez bazan sar dadila kalabazan eta irten dadila Derioko plazan *
_
aunque no estoy del todo seguro de lo del colorin colorado


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## giuseppe

At the end of a story, just like the English version goes,it is
Trad. 从此他们过上了幸福的生活。
Simpl.從此他們過上了幸福的生活。
Pron. cóngcǐ tāmén guòshànglê xìngfúdê shēnghuó.

I hope my answer satisfies your demand.


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## Lancel0t

Leopold here are some *Filipino *translations:

And they lived happily ever after ( At silay nabuhay ng masaya at payapa)
And that is the end of their story ( At dito nagwawakas ang kanilang kuwento)

Hope this would helps


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## pinkpanter

In *Swedish*,

*och så levde de lyckliga i alla sina dagar* - and they lived happily ever after


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## gaer

I don't know if anyone mentioned *Japanese*:

彼らは、それからずっと幸せに暮らしました。
かれらは、それからずっとしあわせにくらしました。
Kare wa, sore kara zutto shiawase ni kurashimashita.

And they lived happily ever after [a long time].
(They that after a long time happily lived.)

[Japanese makes the most backwards German sentence structure look almost like English!]


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## merkkari

In Finnish:

Sen pituinen se. (That long was the story)
He elivät onnellisina elämänsä loppuun asti. (They lived happily...)


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## lsp

*Italian*:
And they lived happily ever after = E da allora vivono felici e contenti


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## abc

Hi Leo,

Sorry, it took me a while. I think I've found a way to post things in *Vietnamese *here.

They lived happily ever after is something like:

Họ sống hạnh phúc bên nhau đến răng long tóc bạc .
Họ sống hạnh phúc bên nhau mãi mãi .

If something else pops up, I'll post it here.


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## edward_mao

Wow, it really seems like a fairy tale. I would like to translate it into *Chinese*:
 They lived happily ever after--从此以后，他们过着幸福的生活
This game is so interesting!


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## Ulisse

In *Italian *:

... e vissero per sempre felici e contenti!

Larga la foglia, stretta la via 
dite la vostra che ho detto la mia.


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## amikama

*Hebrew*:

For ending a story:
והם חיו באושר ובעושר עד עצם היום הזה
(_vehem chayu be-osher ube-osher ad etsem hayom haze _= and they lived happily and richly ever after.)


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## maver

In *Estonian*:

 Ja kui nad surnud pole, elavad nad siiani õnnelikult. (And if they haven't died, they are still living happily (ever after))
 Ja nad elasid õnnelikult elu lõpuni. (And they lived happily ever after)

Or something quite similar .


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## Thomas1

in *Polish*:

“And they lived happily ever after.” 
*I żyli długo i szczęśliwie.*
_“_And that's how the fairytale ended.”
*I tak skończyła się bajka.

*“And they all lived happily ever after.” 
*I wszyscy żyli długo i szczęśliwie.*

"And that's the end of the story." 
*I to już koniec (tej) historii.*

“Behind seven mountains and seven seas there once lived...” 
*Za siedmioma górami, za siedmioma morzami żył sobie…
*
I would think that many languages have common origin of the ending about living in hapiness.

Tom


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## Addur

haujavi said:
			
		

> En euskera sería más o menos así
> 
> _*Colorín colorado este cuento se ha acabado=E**ta hau hala ez bazan sar dadila kalabazan eta irten dadila Derioko plazan *_
> 
> aunque no estoy del todo seguro de lo del colorin colorado


 In *basque language*, to finish the stories we use to say:

_Eta hala izan bazan, sartu dadila kalabazan eta atera dadila *Donostia*ko plazan_

_lit. And if this happened this way, get in the gourd and go out in *my town*'s square._


Donostia is my town' name, the most beautiful city in almost the whole world


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## Mononen from Sweden

*Swedish*:

"Och så slutar vår saga".
="And that's how our story ends".

Hope this was what you wanted.


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## ALOV

In *Dutch *we say:

 "... en ze leefden nog lang en gelukkig"
(literally meaning 'and they lived long and happily after')


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## Tisia

Hi . Though very sadly I have heard all my childhood tales in a foreign language rather than my native one, I will try to translate it into Persian based on what I have occasionally heard.  

 In *Persian *you would say: 

Ba'ad az oon dust shodand o ba ham be khobi o khosi mizistand.
 Afterwards they became friends and lived together happily and kindly.

for _They lived happily ever after.
_
I hope it helps.


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## phoebesgrandad

a *Dutch *version of this would be something like .

toen kwam en varkentje met en lange snuit en het verhaltje was uit .
(then along came a pig with a long nose and the story was over)of course it rymes in dutch.


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## mari.kit

Hi.. 
I'd like to contribute..

In *Filipino*...

..and so that's how this story ends= "...at diyan nagtatapos ang kwentong ito."


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## Falalalan

Thomas1 said:
			
		

> in *Polish*:
> 
> “And they lived happily ever after.”
> *I żyli długo i szczęśliwie.*
> 
> “And they all lived happily ever after.”
> *I wszyscy żyli długo i szczęśliwie.*
> 
> "And that's the end of the story."
> *I to już koniec (tej) historii.*
> 
> “Behind seven mountains and seven seas there once lived...”
> *Za siedmioma górami, za siedmioma morzami żył sobie…*



There's more:

*I ja tam byłem, miód i wino piłem.*
'And I was there, drinking mead and wine.' This ending is a happy one and appears in older fairy tales. Usually a closing sentence after a wedding ceremony, reception or a feast.

*Ale to już zupełnie inna historia.
*'But this is another story.' Sometimes added after 'and they lived happily ever after, had children, built a house, etc.'


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## Aya del Playa

The English cliche' is "... and they lived happily ever after."  Sorry to be cliche, but there it is!


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## ameana7

In *Turkish *they say

"Onlar ermiş muradına, biz çıkalım kerevetine" 
which means "_Their dreams has come true, we will sit on the bedstead_." 
I know it is a terrible translation, but in fact it doesn't mean so much in Turkish too. We use it because it is rhyming. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Also,
"..ve gökten üç elma düştü. Biri hikayedekilerin başına, biri anlatana, biri de dinleyene.."
 It can be translated as "..._and 3 apples have fallen from the sky. One of them has fallen for the heroes in the story, one for the story teller and one for the listeners_."


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## DrWatson

In Finnish there are at least two I could think of. First of them seems it's been loaned from English: *
...ja he elivät elämänsä onnellisina loppuun asti.
*= lit. "...and they lived their lives happily all the way to the end." This translates to the aforementioned "happily ever after" ending. 

Then there's another one, it's actually quite graceless:
*Sen pituinen se.*
= lit. "That was the length of it."


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## Sirit

In Norwegian we say:
*Snipp, snapp, snute, så er eventyret ute!*
The three first words don't really mean anything - they are more like a rhyme or a jingle. The last part means "then the story is over".


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## samanthalee

As far as I know, the Chinese does not have fairy tales...myths and legends, yes...but not fairy tales. Our fairy tales are all translations of Grimm Brother's and other Western origins. The endings are always a translation of "and they lived happily ever after". 
从此他们过着幸福快乐的日子。: cong ci ta men guo zhe xing fu kuai le de ri zi
(And from then on, they lived in days of happiness and fortune.)


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## gao_yixing

samanthalee said:


> As far as I know, the Chinese does not have fairy tales...myths and legends, yes...but not fairy tales. Our fairy tales are all translations of Grimm Brother's and other Western origins. The endings are always a translation of "and they lived happily ever after".
> 从此他们过着幸福快乐的日子。: cong ci ta men guo zhe xing fu kuai le de ri zi
> (And from then on, they lived in days of happiness and fortune.)


 
Hi
Maybe 从此他们过着幸福快乐的*生活* is more common.
Cheers,
Anthony


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## Etcetera

In Russian, there are several ways to finish a tale. 
Он*и* ж*и*ли д*о*лго и сч*а*стливо и *у*мерли в од*и*н день (They lived long and happy life and died on one and the same day).
Вот и ск*а*зке кон*е*ц (The story has come to end). Sometimes Кто сл*у*шал, тот молод*е*ц (The listener's done a good job, sometithing like that) is added to it. 
I am sure there are other ways, but for the present I can think only of these two phrases.


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## Maroseika

Etcetera said:


> In Russian, there are several ways to finish a tale.
> Они жили долго и счастливо и умерли в один день (They lived long and happy life and died on one and the same day)..


Are you sure it has anything to do with russian tales? I'd rather say it's something from Alexander Grin or Disney.

I'd like to add one more completion, my favorite:
И я там был, мед-пиво пил, по усам текло, да в рот не попало.
And I've also been there, drinking mead and beer, it flew down along my moustaches, but nothing has got to my mouth - meaning the teller knows everything from the horse mouth, for he was invited to the wedding feast (logic end of each normal tale), and all he has told is truth, truth, and nothing save of truth.

Variants: 
Я на том пиру был, мед да пиво пил, обо всем этом узнал, да и рассказал.
I've been at that feast, drank mead and beer, have known everything about this story and told you.

Деды дедов там были, мед и пиво пили, и до нас дошло, по усам текло, в рот не попало...
Grandfathers' granfathers have benn there, drinking mead and beer, and we got to know of it, flew down along moustaches, but nothing has got to the mouth

Тем и сказке конец, а мне меду корец.
This is the end of the tale, and for me - a dipper of mead

Yet another one:
И стали они жить да поживать да добра наживать
(Стали они жить да быть, да добро копить)
Very coarse translation: And they became live and live, and amass their goods. (after wedding, of course)

And some more:
C тех пор они живут-поживают, беды никакой не знают
(И стали они в добре поживать, лиха не знать)
Since then they lived and lived, without knowing any trouble


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## Mutichou

In French, we often see this sentence:
_Ils vécurent heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants._
They lived happily and had a lot of children.


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*, the most common phrase is:
"En ze leefden nog lang en gelukkig".
[lit. And they lived long and happily; basically the same as English "and they lived happily ever after".]

A less common one, but my personal favourite:
"Er kwam een varkentje met een lange snuit,
en het vertelseltje is uit."

[Lit. Then came a pig with a long snout,
and the (little) tale is finished]

Groetjes,
Frank


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## irene.acler

Yo conozco esta versión española: "..Colorín colorado, este cuento se ha acabado".
En italiano: "..e vissero tutti felici e contenti".


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## Maja

In Serbian, the most famous fairytales are finished  with "... *i živeli su srećno do kraja života*" (and they lived happily ever  after). 
But when parents finish a bedtime story to their child, they  usually say after it "*čiča miča i gotova priča*" (uncle Miča, and the story is  over -> it rhymes in Serbian ).


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

In Spanish, I know:
"Y este cuento se fue por un zapatito roto, pero si quieres rapidito te cuento otro" --> And this tale went away through the hole of a torn shoe, but if you want I can quickly tell you another one.  It rhymes in Spanish, and is a very cute way to end a fairy tale...

And of course, the most traditional "happy ending":
"Y vivieron felices para siempre"  -->  And they lived happily ever after.

I remember a rather odd one from a really crazy tale I read as a child (oh, those blessed days! *sigh*  ): el cuento del gatopato (the tale of the catduck).  It finished like this:
"Y el gatopato se encontró su gatapata, se casaron, tuvieron muchos gatopatitos y comieron crema chantilly siendo muy felices para siempre" --> And the (male) catduck met his (female) catduck, they got married, had many little catducks and ate chantilly cream living happily ever after...

Hey, I told you it was odd...


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

I heard this one today:
"... y a este cuento se lo llevó el viento". Something like: And this tale was swept away by (or gone with  ) the wind"


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## Lugubert

Sirit said:


> In Norwegian we say:
> *Snipp, snapp, snute, så er eventyret ute!*
> The three first words don't really mean anything - they are more like a rhyme or a jingle. The last part means "then the story is over".


Not very surprisingly, Swedish is often similar: *Snipp, snapp, snut, så är sagan slut!*
The famous Danish story teller Hans Christian Andersen ended some of his stories with a hint at some other story, but finally remarked "*Men det er et andet eventyr!*" 'But that's another story.'


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## DearPrudence

In French, the traditional cliché is to end a fairy tale with 
*"Ils se marièrent (,vécurent heureux) & eurent beaucoup d'enfants"*
Literally:
_*They got married (,lived happy) & had a lot of children"*_

So there are quite a lot of parodies because of that, where you see what actually happens behind the scene, once the fairy tale is finished, ie the housewife princess with kids around her, doing the cooking & all the housework while her husband is never at home ... Bref 

Sorry Mutichou for the repeat


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## barbiegood

In Hungarian we say

Boldogan éltek, míg meg nem haltak. - They lived happily until they died.

Itt a vége, fuss el véle. - This is the end(the end of the story), run away with it.


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## lily-kitten

Hi!!
In Portuguese:

Eles viveram felizes para sempre!


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## nagusi

Hi,

In Spain what is mainly  used is "Y fueron felices y comieron perdices" which means : they were happy and they ate partridges.
if the end of the tale is not a wedding we use "colorín colorado este cuento se ha acabado".
Saludos


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## suslik

In Estonian:

*"...ja nad elasid õnnelikult elu lõpuni."* - It means "...and they lived happily until the end of their lives."


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## ireney

In Greek

" κι έζησαν αυτοί καλά κι εμείς καλύτερα" which translates into : And the lived well (happily if you wish, it has the same meaning in this context, more or less) and we (lived) better (than they did).


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## Whodunit

The cliché ending in German is "_... und sie lebten glücklich (und zufrieden) bis an ihr Lebensende_", which could be translated as "... and they lived happily (and in satisfaction) till the end of their lives."


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## Laztana

Hi,

in basque we have:

Hala bazan edo ez bazan, sar dadila kalabazan eta atera dadila herriko plazan.


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## jonquiliser

Lugubert said:


> Not very surprisingly, Swedish is often similar: *Snipp, snapp, snut, så är sagan slut!*
> The famous Danish story teller Hans Christian Andersen ended some of his stories with a hint at some other story, but finally remarked "*Men det er et andet eventyr!*" 'But that's another story.'



But you're forgetting the most important one; the happy ending of all sugar-sweet have-it-up-your-throat fairy-tale romances: "...och så levde de lyckliga i alla sina dagar..."


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## jonquiliser

Mononen from Sweden said:


> Swedish:
> 
> ending:
> "Och så slutar vår saga".
> ="And that's how our story ends".
> 
> Hope this was what you wanted.


 
eller så slutar man De levde lyckligt i alla sina dagar(They lived happy ever after)
It's "and they lived happily in all their remaining days", i.e. they lived happily forever after.


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## deine

Endings of Lithuanian fary tales:

The most common:
Ir aš ten buvau, alų midų gėriau, per barzdą varvėjo, burnoj neturėjau. 
(And I've also been there, drinking mead and beer, it flew down along my moustaches, but nothing has got to my mouth) 

Jie ilgai ir gražiai gyveno. (They lived long and nice)

Jie laimingai gyveno ir dabar tebegyvena, jei dar nenumirė.(They lived happily and they live till now if not dead yet)

Karalius didžias vaišes sutaisė, į jas daug svečių sukvietė. Tik tave ir mane, rodos, užmiršo pakviesti. (The king made a big regale, invited a lot of people. Only you and me forgot to invite)

Tose vestuvėse ir aš buvau o ką girdėjau ir mačiau, žodis į žodį užrašiau.
(I've been at that feast and everything that I heard and saw word to word (werbatim?) wrote here.)


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## betulina

In *Catalan *we say:

"I vet aquí un gos, vet aquí un gat, aquest conte s'ha acabat" 
(And here is a dog, here is a cat, this tale has come to an end)

or/and 

"I vet aquí un gat, vet aquí un gos, aquest conte ja s'ha fos" 
(And here is a cat, here is a dog, this tale has melted)

Edit: I forgot to say that in Catalan tales with a happy end usually finish with

"I van ser feliços i menjaren anissos"
(And they lived happily and ate anissos - an "anís" is a small sweet with a base of anise grains)

You can say this, as it is somehow part of the tale, and then the "vet aquí un gat..." part.


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## OldAvatar

> Karalius didžias vaišes sutaisė, į jas daug svečių sukvietė. Tik tave ir mane, rodos, užmiršo pakviesti. (The king made a big regale, invited a lot of people. Only you and me forgot to invite)



Is *karalius *Lithuanian word for king?


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## Eva Maria

betulina said:


> Eskerrik asko, Laztana!
> 
> I forgot to say that in Catalan tales with a happy end usually finish with
> 
> "I van ser feliços i menjaren anissos"
> (And they lived happily and ate _anissos_ - an "anís" is a small sweet with a base of anise grains)


 
In Spanish I've also seen "Y fueron felices y comieron anises" (another way of saying "Y fueron felices y comieron perdices"), which has the same meaning as "I van ser feliços i menjaren anissos".

Eva Maria


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## faranji

nagusi said:


> Hi,
> 
> In Spain what is mainly used is "Y fueron felices y comieron perdices"


 
To which _Y se dieron con un plato en las narices_ more often than not is added. Meaning: _And they smashed a dish in each other's noses_. 
(It's a Spanish thing, you know, this picking up a nasty household quarrel when happiness and peace seemed at last conquered and bellies filled.)


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## Kriviq

Here`s one in Bulgarian:
Три дни яли, пили и се веселили/And they ate, drank, and had fun in the course of three days.


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## Neriel

In *euskera *it is like this:
Hala bazan edo ez bazan sar dadila kalabazan, eta atera bedi ****-ko plazan(****=Your towns name)

It means (Wheter it was like this or not it has to got in the pumpkin and come out in ****'s square.) Instead of the **** we usually put our towns name.


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## astlanda

Hi

There was an *Estonian *set already, which matches well to the written tales.

Nevertheless there are other options:

"... ja lool lõpp." "... ja kogu lugu." = "It's the end of the story."

Nevertheless it was no general practice here to use any standard formulas.


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## BP.

*Urdu*:

_khatm shud_ - ختم شد


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## valo__fan

*Turkish*:

...ve hep birlikte sonsuza kadar  mutlu yaşamışlar.(...and they lived happily ever after)


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## Alicez

*And they lived happily ever after*

 Şi au trăit fericiţi pană-n adânci bătraneţi...
 Tinereţe fără bătrâneţe şi viaţă fără de moarte...
 Şi-am încălecat pe-o şea şi v-am spus povestea aşa... (pretty difficult to translate. Something like: _And I raised on a saddle, ending the story...)_
 Şi-am încălecat pe o căpsună şi v-am spus o mare gogonată minciună...


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian
*
Egyszer volt, hol nem volt...

...addig éltek, míg meg nem haltak.


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## mohamed264

in *Arabic*

=وقد عاشا الى الابد فى سعادة


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## Rallino

In *French *I've seen:

*Ils furent heureux et eurent beaucoup d'enfants.* (They became happy and had many children.)
[...]


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## Zenfinite1

Leopold said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I'd like to ask the foreros to contribute to the translation of this formula into as many languages as possible.
> 
> I'd like to know the ways of ending a children's story. Note that it is supposed to be a neutral ending ("and they lived happily ever after" is not neutral, it's intended for a happy ending and works just if the end of the tale is talking about people or animals).
> 
> In Spanish they are:
> 
> "*Y colorín, colorado, este cuento se ha acabado*".
> [...]
> 
> Other options in Spanish are welcome (but that's not the point of this thread, so please refrain yourself and don't flood the thread with Spanish variants
> 
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> thanks)
> 
> Other alphabets are very welcome too.
> 
> Thank you very much in advance.
> 
> Leo
> 
> [Edit] I've talked to the person who asked me this, and told me that "not neutral endings" are ok too.
> 
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> Moderator's note: to know how to start a fairy tale, please have a look at this thread.


It seems to me that few people responded with alternative and neutral ways to end a fairy tale. I was just discussing the negative effect on society that the "happily ever after" trope has, in that it teaches people that once they find their first husband or wife, everything will be smooth and easy, when nothing could be further from the truth. Lasting marriages are difficult and require work, and you will always encounter problems in your life. Furthermore this teaches the idea that if I get that thing I want (whatever it is), THEN I can finally be happy. Again this is false for most people, because that thing or person doesn't change who YOU are, and only YOU can decide if you are happy.

The friend I was talking to said that in Korean fairy tales, they end with something like, "And they went on facing their problems together." This is relatively positive, but far closer to neutral than "They lived happily ever after" in any language. It's also closer to reality.

Blessings,
Michael


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