@panzade,
No. I believe it comes from names of the old English coaching inns that were positioned opposite one another out in the middle of nowhere, where the horses were changed and the passengers often stayed the night.
These passengers would eat and drink their fill, and invarioubly end up telling tales to one another to while away the time before bed.
This spinning a yarn came to be known as telling a cock and bull story.
The Inns still exist. (Stony Stratford)
