Take clothes off to portray heroic tale (4)

I believe the answer is:

epic

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'heroic tale' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

I don't understand the remainder of the clue.

(Other definitions for epic that I've seen before include "Long poem/story" , "of impressive proportions?" , "Long adventure story" , "Confirm the truth of" , "major work" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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