A story, in which native humour reigns, Is often useful, always entertains; A graver fact, enlisted on your side, May furnish illustration, well applied; But sedentary weavers of long tales Give me the fidgets, and my patience fails. CowperConversation. L. 203.
In this spacious isle I think there is not one But he hath heard some talk of Hood and Little John, Of Tuck, the merry friar, which many a sermon made In praise of Robin Hood, his outlaws, and their trade. DraytonPolyolbion.
Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten, Dass ich so traurig bin: Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn. In vain would I seek to discover Why sad and mournful am I, My thoughts without ceasing brood over A tale of the times gone by. HeineDie Lorelei. E. A. Bowrings trans.
When thou dost tell anothers jest, therein Omit the oaths, which true wit cannot need; Pick out of tales the mirth, but not the sin. HerbertTemple. Church Porch. St. 11.
An all us other children, when the supper things is done, We set around the kitchen fire an has the mostest fun A-listnin to the witch tales at Annie tells about An the gobble-uns at gits you Ef you Dont Watch Out! James Whitcomb RileyLittle Orphant Annie.
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, Thy knotted and combined locks to part And each particular hair to stand on end, Like quills upon the fretful porpentine. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 5. L. 15.
Which his fair tongueconceits expositor Delivers in such apt and gracious words, That aged ears play truant at his tales, And younger hearings are quite ravished. Loves Labours Lost. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 72.
And thereby hangs a tale. Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 1. L. 60. Also found in Othello. Act III. 1; Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. 4; As You Like it. Act II. 7.
With a tale forsooth he cometh unto you, with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner. Sir Philip SidneyThe Defense of Poesy.