By chance, last night, I started to read Rabih Alameddine's big novel, The Hakawati, and found this:
"The doctor wasn't a good storyteller," my grandfather said....
"What was wrong with his stories?"
"They were just common. He always told his favorite stories from the Bible. Stories with obvious moral lessons are like eels in a wooden crate. They slither over and under each other but never leave the tub. In my day, I told some of the same stories, but mine soared. His problem was that he believed. Belief is the enemy of a storyteller."