A Cultural-Historical Approach to Folktales about Laziness

In folktales such as Six-yard StrawRope, a dispersed perspective can be observed regarding lazy characters. While they tend to get kicked out of their houses or become the targets of satire or criticism, they also get very lucky by chance and often get married or become rich. The lazy character, which appears in Aesop's Fables, boasts a long history, and this dual nature can be explained through a cultural-historical approach. In Segyeong-bonpuri and Songdang-bonpuri, the lazy figure appears as a character opposing agricultural culture, making it necessary to examine the establishment of agricultural society to understand the traits of the lazy character. Contrary to popular belief, the Neolithic agricultural revolution was slow and long-lasting. This means that the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture was not natural or inevitable. For this reason, the heterogeneous production methods of hunting, herding, and agriculture were forced to coexist for a long time. This complex cultural landscape over several centuries caused conflict owing to differences in life rhythms. While agricultural culture was steady and regular, hunting and gathering culture was slow and irregular. Therefore, in the eyes of farmers who valued diligence, hunters appeared as lazy individuals. In this way, the lazy character embodies the contemptuous view agricultural culture held toward earlier modes of production, such as hunting, gathering, and early pastoralism. As the transition to an agricultural society was delayed, contempt for laziness became even more emphasized at the ideological level, and laziness became a key theme in the conflicts between hunters and farmers in early epics. However, from the perspective of hunting cultures, what farmers perceived as laziness reflected a different life rhythm and symbolized original abundance. Thus, while agricultural culture framed the lazy character negatively, hunting culture viewed him positively. In lazy tales, we can see how the dispersed perspectives of the cultural transition period are reflected in various forms.