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"The tale how..." is wrong is because "tale" needs to be accompanied by a certain kind of preposition in that context. 

A "tale" is a story. A story is _about_ some topic. The noun "story" (or "tale") is related to its contents using prepositions like _of_ or _about_:

* This is the tale **of** \<subject of tale\>.

* This story is **about** \<subject of story>.

Using "story" or "tale" without that preposition means something different. What a story _is_ is different to its contents. A story can be funny, lengthy, dark, boring... 

* That story **is** \<adjective>. 

In your example, \<suject of tale> = \<how the Septemi helped King Nicodemus...>. Therefore, it is the tale **of** how the Septemi helped King Nicodemus...