Article on narrative motifs and patterns of historical development in the folkloric story of "The Lazy Boy" : a "male tale" traced internationally over nearly five hundred years of oral and written storytelling, through various iterations of characters and themes, and across linguistic boundaries. Author's critical analysis of "The Lazy Boy" used "to explore...questions in contemporary folk narrative research" (259). Emphasis on the roles of anger, stupidity, sexuality, and class in various of the story's versions; how the story's aspects vary in its telling between one cultural community and another.
