High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories (`the fish that got away`) such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya`, it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely fictional tales set in a familiar setting, such as the European countryside, the American Old West or the beginning of the Industrial Age.