When people started communicating with others, whether to provide information or entertainment, I suspect that embellishments crept in. Not "the sun came up" but "rosy fingered dawn" since it made the tale more appealing to the minds of the hearers.

There's nothing at all wrong with making a good yarn entertaining (and/or informative). Perhaps greatness is just something achieved by the very best tale-tellers.

(I've always said that there are no good books in a library, 'cause nobody reads a bad book, so all the good ones are always checked out.)