The Lazybum's Biscuit Collar

Summary

There was once a boy so lazy that he had to be spoonfed breakfast, lunch and dinner each time before his parents went to work on the farm. Not to mention that he would rather snooze in bed all day to boot.

One day, they were too busy to do it, so they tied a collar of biscuits around his neck and told him that it was all his meals for that day. They left for work with the barest hint of a doubt in their heads afterwards.

That evening, when they came back, the lazybum was lying lifeless in bed. All he had done was eat one side of the collar, and he couldn't be bothered to turn it around when lunch and dinner came.

Historical Basis

The story is entirely made up in the vein of an Aesop fable.

Spread

Always told to children who are either too lazy to help themselves or need to be kicked into action.

Variations & Mutation

A modern retelling extends the story after the boy's supposed death, inferring that he actually played dead.

His annoyed mother in this version ends up pushing him to be able to fend for himself and he finally gets a happy ever after by dint of hard work.

An entirely different version describes the lazybum in the story as a farmer's wife, who still suffers the same fate of starving after eating only one side of her collar.

Less morbid retellings state that the lazybum caught a horrendous stomach ache from not eating the rest of the collar, and ended up being brought to a doctor. The doctor then gives him a strict lesson in not being lazy.

Cultural Reception

The death mentioned in this story is intentionally exaggerated for absurd effect.

In Literature

Is regularly included in books of fables aimed at children.

Date of First Recording

Unknown