fairy yarn

plural fairy yarns

1. A fabricated or misleading account or story.

   ‘Come on, Mr. Crichton. Cut out the fairy yarns and get us another round.’

   1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 146

   1 more example

   Next day she eloped with her husband's son and took the cash; which they discovered, after a protracted search in the very place where they knew it was all the time. The only little difficulty about this fairy yarn is the son, for the old man never had one, and isn't likely to now.

   1889 March 23, The Boomerang, Brisbane, page 16, column 3