Well, I remember it as:

"The night was dark and stormy..."

as in:

The night was dark and stormy.
The billy goat was blind.
He backed into a barbed wire fence
and scratched his "never mind".

Sorry, I think you can blame my dear departed Mum for that one! So,the little story told by Leadfingers, in my recollection, started the same way. Also told to us by our mother, I think.

Helen