Thanks, boy, for the stories (5)
I believe the answer is:
tales
'the stories' is the definition.
('tale' can be a synonym of 'story')
'thanks boy' is the wordplay.
'thanks' becomes 'ta' (UK informal version of 'thank you').
'boy' becomes 'les' (**).
'ta'+'les'='TALES'
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for tales that I've seen before include "provided for defective juries" , "Stories, perhaps tall ones" , "Stories, fables" , "Stories, yarns" , "Stale kind of stories" .)