“thereby hangs a tale”
Pun
Act 4,
Scene 1
Lines 42-44
Grumio
Curtis
Grumio
By Shakespeare’s time, this expression with a pun on tale/tail was already common. Given in response to a question, it means that there’s a long tale attached to the explanation, like a long tail attached to a horse. There’s a bit of extra wordplay here since Grumio’s tale involves horses.