I could not work out when to use the passé simple. I would have thought it would befor all verbs or none

Question

Accepted Answer

Hi Judy, 
It's the same old dilemma as to when to use passé composé or imparfait.
In a narrative, the passé simple replaces the passé composé and the imparfait stays the same.
I really enjoyed doing this exercise though;
Belle histoire, merci Aurélie!
Hope this helps!

Answer

Haven't done the exercise but I took a quick peek at the text. You wouldn't use passé simple for every verb in the text. For example:

Once upon a time there lived a king in the castle. -- Il était une fois, un roi vécut dans le château.
He used to go hunting every day. -- Il chassait chaque jour.

Already the first sentence uses passé simple mixed with imparfait. Because it is a single event with no bearing or connection to the present, you use vécut (vivre in passé simple). The second sentence uses imparfait because it describes a habit.