Tale may refer to:
- Cautionary tale, a traditional story told in folklore, to warn its hearer of a danger
- Fairy tale, a fictional story that usually features folkloric characters (such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches, giants, and talking animals) and enchantments
- Folk tale, a story passed-down within a particular population, which comprises the traditions of that culture or group.
- Fable, a brief story, which illustrates a moral lesson and which features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are anthropomorphised
- Frame tale, whereby the main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of organizing a set of shorter stories.
- Urban legend, a modern folk tale consisting of stories often thought to be factual by those circulating them
- Old wives' tale, a wisdom much like an urban legend, supposedly passed down by old wives to a younger generation
- Tall tale, a story that tries to explain the reason for some natural phenomenon
- TALE, or transcription activator-like effector, a type of DNA binding protein secreted by infectious bacteria of plants that contains a highly engineerable DNA binding domain
Famous quotes containing the word tale:
“Mark now how a plain tale shall put you down.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundest truths, while reality is fabulous. If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life ... would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)