Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Tale \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.