What does the expression “neither head nor tail of a matter” mean and Where does it originate?

The expression “neither head nor tail” means: neither one thing nor another; nothing definite nor positive: usually in such construction as, I can make neither head nor tail of this story.

In the expression, which dates back to the seventeenth century, head means “beginning” and tail means “end”; hence, I can understand neither beginning nor end of this story.