The Quran has a fanciful tale about how the Golden Calf came to life. Turns out the Talmud antedated that with four, totally different, stories of magic that explain way beyond what may be inferred from Torah, about charmed angel horse dust or an Egyptian magic splinter of wood that brought the calf to life. They sound like children’s stories. If not, then they are in defiance of Devarim 4.2, “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it.”
Were these fantastic stories meant to be believed, or were they just used in sermons to perk up the imaginations of children and bored adults?