Noun

(en noun)

A fictitious narrative intended to enforce some useful truth or precept, usually with animals, birds etc as characters; an apologue. Prototypically, .

Any story told to excite wonder; common talk; the theme of talk.

* 4:7,

Old wives' fables .

* ,

We grew / The fable of the city where we dwelt.

Fiction; untruth; falsehood.

* ,

It would look like a fable to report that this gentleman gives away a great fortune by secret methods.

The plot, story, or connected series of events forming the subject of an epic or dramatic poem.

* Dryden

The moral is the first business of the poet; this being formed, he contrives such a design or fable as may be most suitable to the moral.

Noun

(stories)

A sequence of real or fictional events; or, an account of such a sequence.

* Ed. Rev.

Venice, with its unique city and its impressive story

* Sir W. Temple

The four great monarchies make the subject of ancient story .

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=The stories did not seem to me to touch life. They were plainly intended to have a bracing moral effect, and perhaps had this result for the people at whom they were aimed. They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}

A lie.

(chiefly, US) A floor or level of a building; a storey.

* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , chapter I:

The lower story of the market-house was open on all four of its sides to the public square.

(US, colloquial, usually pluralized) A soap opera.

(obsolete) History.

* 1644 , (John Milton), (Aeropagitica) :

who is so unread or so uncatechis'd in story , that hath not heard of many sects refusing books as a hindrance, and preserving their doctrine unmixt for many ages, only by unwritt'n traditions.

A sequence of events, or a situation, such as might be related in an account.