The Tale is the Map which is the Territory

One describes a tale best by telling the tale.
You see? The way one describes a story,
to oneself or to the world,
is by telling the story.

It is a balancing act and it is a dream.

The more accurate the map,
the more it resembles the territory.

The most accurate map possible
would be the territory, and thus would be
perfectly accurate and perfectly useless.

The tale is the map which is the territory.

-- Neil Gaiman, American Gods

(arranged quote)