Tale
Story, Legend
noun, verbal noun, の adjective
A language about things. This is a confusing one. Just think of it more like someone talking about things, anything, really. Someone who just talks about things is someone who tells stories. So, this word means tale or story or legend (not the Tom Cruise one, though).
Both kanji take the kun'yomi here. For 物, that's もの, which you learned with the vocabulary 物. You learned the kun'yomi for 語 with the verb 語る, but here it becomes がたり because of rendaku, and the り is tucked inside the kanji.
Maybe you've already heard the word ものがたり too. It's in some film and book names. If you haven't, and you find this reading hard to remember, think of a story about an infamous Gatling (がたり) gun that wandered the land, mowing everything down in its path. It's a terrible legend, but what if it were true???
物語の主人公にでもなったつもりでいるんだろう。
I think she's acting like she's the main character of a story.
竹とり物語は日本の有名な物語です。
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter is a famous Japanese legend.
今物語を書いているんです。悲しい子犬フェチの男の話です。
I’m writing a story right now. It’s about a sad guy who is obsessed with puppies.