In Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Tell - Tale Heart', the narrator tries to convince himself and others that he is not mad while he has committed a murder. His lies about his sanity start to fall apart as his guilt makes him hear the heartbeat of the dead man. His lies lack a solid base, just like the phrase says, and they crumble under the weight of his own conscience as the story progresses.
In 'The Necklace' by Guy de Maupassant. The main character lies about losing a borrowed necklace. She replaces it with an expensive one but spends years in poverty paying off the debt. Eventually, the truth is revealed that the original necklace was a fake. Her lie couldn't stand as it was based on false assumptions and pride.
In a short story, this phrase 'a lie has no legs to stand upon' shows that lies are not sustainable. Think of a short story where a person lies about their past achievements. As the story progresses, the lie will be exposed because there are no facts or real experiences to back it up. The lie is like a bubble that will burst sooner or later. It's a way of saying that truth is strong and lies are weak. Short story writers use this concept to create tension, like when other characters start to suspect the lie, which can drive the plot forward.
It means that lies are unstable and won't hold up. In a short story, it might suggest that characters who tell lies will eventually be exposed or face consequences.
Sure. A person might say they were at a very important business meeting all day when in fact they were at the meeting for only half a day and then went shopping. The part about the meeting is true, but the implication that they were there all day is a lie.
Sure. Consider the urban legend about alligators in the sewers of New York City. There was probably some small incident like a few alligators being found in strange places in the city at some point (the true part). But then the story grew into this huge lie that there are whole colonies of alligators living in the sewers, which is highly unlikely and an exaggeration of the initial truth.
One example could be the story of a high - jumper. High - jumpers often have long legs which give them an advantage. If there was a real - life high - jumper who had an inspiring journey in the sport, that could be a 'long legs based on true story'.
A 'perfect lie full story' might be a very elaborate false narrative that has all the elements to seem real. For example, in a mystery novel, a character might create a perfect lie full story to mislead the detective. They could fabricate details about their whereabouts, who they were with, and what they were doing. They might even create false witnesses or evidence to support their lie.
Maybe a fanfiction where the main character betrays their closest friends for no good reason. That would be quite heartless.
One example could be 'Gone Girl'. In the story, Amy tells a major lie at the very beginning which sets the whole plot in motion. Her lie completely changes the course of the investigation and her husband's life. She is in a way 'winning' in the sense that she is in control of the situation through her initial falsehood.
Since I don't really know the exact nature of this story, I can't give a proper example directly related to it. But if we assume it's about an object, for example, it could be a big black box that a character in a story always carries between his legs while on a strange journey.
If we assume it's a positive family - based story, perhaps it could be that a son, in a very innocent way, likes the stories his mother tells while she's wearing a nice dress that shows her legs. And he associates the beauty of her legs with the warmth of the story - telling.