don't be so literal

'Υοu did believe in them, didn't you? Or was it' - her voice faltered - 'only a story?'

'And what if it were only a story?', said Mrs May quickly, 'so long as it was a good story? Keep your sense of wonder, child, and don't be so literal. And everything we haven't experienced for ourselves sounds like a story. All we can ever do about such things is' - she hesitated, smiling at Kate's expression - 'keep an open mind and try to shift evidence.'

Mary Norton - 'The Borrowers'