The action of telling stories.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 2, ¶ 1. I am not in Humour for telling a Tale, and nothing in Nature is so ungrateful as Story-Telling against the Grain.
1713. Guardian, No. 42 (1756), I. 182. Story-telling is therefore not an art, but what we call a ‘knack.’
1837. Lockhart, Scott, I. vii. 202. He soon became as famous for his powers of story-telling among the lawyers of the Outer-House, as he had been among the companions of his High School days.
1882. R. L. Stevenson, in Longman’s Mag., I. 75. The early part of ‘Monte Christo,’… is a piece of perfect story-telling.
1894. B. Thomson, South Sea Yarns, Introd. p. vii. In the great bure of Raiyawa there was a story-telling.
1903. Sat. Rev., 26 Dec., 806/1. He has not got the gift of storytelling.
1911. W. P. Ker, Engl. Lit. Medieval, vi. 177. There is a large section of medieval story-telling which is in a different condition.
attrib. 1897. ‘Olive P. Rayner’ (Grant Allen), Type-writer Girl, iv. 44. The clear-cut outlines, the translucent hues,… the story-telling faculty, each charmed and beguiled me.
1904. Daily Chron., 26 Sept., 4/5. Mr. Morrison has rare constructive skill, as all his storytelling work has shown.
