1. [n]  a trivial lie; "he told a fib about eating his spinach"; "how can I stop my child from telling stories?"
2. [n]  a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; "his narrative was interesting"; "his stories entertained the children"

1. \Tale\, n.
   See {Tael}.
   

2. \Tale\, n. [AS. talu number, speech, narrative; akin to D.
   taal speech, language, G. zahl number, OHG. zala, Icel. tal,
   tala, number, speech, Sw. tal, Dan. tal number, tale speech,
   Goth. talzjan to instruct. Cf. {Tell}, v. t., {Toll} a tax,
   also {Talk}, v. i.]
   1. That which is told; an oral relation or recital; any
      rehearsal of what has occured; narrative; discourse;
      statement; history; story. ``The tale of Troy divine.''
      --Milton. ``In such manner rime is Dante's tale.''
      --Chaucer.
            We spend our years as a tale that is told. --Ps. xc.
                                                  9.
   2. A number told or counted off; a reckoning by count; an
      enumeration; a count, in distinction from measure or
      weight; a number reckoned or stated.
            The ignorant, . . . who measure by tale, and not by
            weight.                               --Hooker.
            And every shepherd tells his tale, Under the
            hawthornn in the dale.                --Milton.
            In packing, they keep a just tale of the number.
                                                  --Carew.
   3. (Law) A count or declaration. [Obs.]
   {To tell tale of}, to make account of. [Obs.]
            Therefore little tale hath he told Of any dream, so
            holy was his heart.                   --Chaucer.
   Syn: Anecdote; story; fable; incident; memoir; relation;
        account; legend; narrative.
   

3. \Tale\, v. i.
   To tell stories. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Gower.
   

Typed Applicative Language Experiment. M. van Leeuwen. Lazy, purely applicative, polymorphic. Based on typed second order lambda-calculus. "Functional Programming and the Language TALE", H.P. Barendregt et al, in Current Trends in Concurrency, LNCS 224, Springer 1986, pp.122-207.

(1.) Heb. tokhen, "a task," as weighed and measured out = tally, i.e., the number told off; the full number (Ex. 5:18; see 1 Sam. 18:27; 1 Chr. 9:28). In Ezek. 45:11 rendered "measure."

(2.) Heb. hegeh, "a thought;" "meditation" (Ps. 90:9); meaning properly "as a whisper of sadness," which is soon over, or "as a thought." The LXX. and Vulgate render it "spider;" the Authorized Version and Revised Version, "as a tale" that is told. In Job 37:2 this word is rendered "sound;" Revised Version margin, "muttering;" and in Ezek. 2:10, "mourning."