TALE

• From the Cambridge English Dictionary: a tale is a story, especially one that might be invented or difficult to believe.
• From The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms: a tale is a comparatively simple narrative, either fictitious or true, written or recounted orally in prose or in verse. A tale often recounts a strange event, focusing on something or someone exotic, marvelous, or even supernatural. Tales may be attributed to a particular author, whether known or anonymous, or may be simply be part of the lore of a given culture. Whatever their origin, tales tend to be relatively shorter narratives; nevertheless, the term is broad enough such that critics and authors have applied it to longer works ranging up to full-length novels.
• The tale places more emphasis on actions and results than on character, which is the chief focus of a short story. Furthermore, tales are more casually constructed--and, consequently, far looser in terms of plot and structure--than short stories, which bear the mark of an author's careful and conscious fashioning.

FIABA

In Vocabolario-Treccani: Racconto fantastico, di solito in prosa e ad ampio sviluppo narrativo, in cui si possono riconoscere tracce di antiche credenze in esseri magici e di antichissime usanze; a differenza della favola, che ha quasi sempre per protagonisti animali, la fiaba ha per protagonista l’uomo, nelle cui vicende intervengono spiriti benefici o malefici, demoni, streghe, fate, e non ha necessariamente fine morale o didascalico ma di intrattenimento infantile.