Listen carefully to the fable of the rabbit:

once upon a time there was a rabbit
and then once upon a time there were
many rabbits
and then

twice upon a time there was a rabbit
and then
there were many rabbits many times.

Once upon a time there was a carrot
that was many carrots
because no carrot occurs only once.

Once upon a time there was
a rabbit that ate all the carrots
many times: once again upon a time there was a rabbit

that was another rabbit that ate all the carrots
except one: once upon a time there was one carrot less
in the world

and the world was less world
and that one carrot less

was

all the carrots
except that carrot which no rabbit ate:

once upon a time there was no carrot in the world
and once upon a time many times
there was no rabbit

and once upon a time there was no once

only the grass growing in spite of everything:
the grass which, being singular, is plural
like a rabbit that once there was.

(Fable of the rabbit, by Luis Felipe Fabre after Calvin Marcus)