"vivir del cuento" means to live without working, usually due to other's work or inherited money. Also politicians or not-understand artists can suffer it.
I think "vivir del cuento" (lit: living from telling fairlytales) it's because they have money but nobody sees them work, or because they earn money only with words ("selling smoke")
An example, referring to Mark Rothko:
A- Mira que bien le va a ese Rothko, gana mucho dinero
(look, Rothko it's earning a lot of money)
B- ese vive del cuento, pinta dos cuadrados de rojo y azul y ya está
he lives without doing nothing, he paints two colour squares and done
Saludos
