Foggerty's Fairy and Other Tales is an 1890 book by W. S. Gilbert

W. S. Gilbert

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...

, collecting several of the short stories and essays he wrote in his early career as a magazine writer (before 1874). A number of them were later adapted as plays or opera librettos.

Copyright problems dogged the book. It was pulled from market shortly after its publication, and is long out of print. Some of the stories were reprinted in the 1985 compilation, The Lost Stories of W. S. Gilbert. Some of the stories also served as the basis for a BBC Radio 4 series, "Gilbert without Sullivan."

Contents and plot summaries

Foggerty's Fairy — First published as "The Story of a Twelfth Cake" in Graphic, Christmas Number, 1874 (retitled "Foggerty's Fairy" for the 1890 collection). A series of alternate histories of a somewhat roguish fellow, Freddy Foggerty, who is attempting to escape the consequences of having deserted the army some years previously. After meeting up with his former sergeant, he obtains the help of the titular fairy who allows him to undo events in his past. Unfortunately, though in the main timeline he has overcome his chequered past and become a respectable shop owner, in the alternate histories he turns out to have become a slave ship captain, a banker about to be arrested for fraud, and so on. Eventually, he returns to the original timeline: it turns out the sergeant hadn't recognised him, and everything ends happily. The play Foggerty's Fairy

Foggerty's Fairy

Foggerty's Fairy, subtitled "An Entirely Original Fairy Farce", is a three-act farce by W.S. Gilbert based loosely on Gilbert's short story, "The Story of a Twelfth Cake", which was published in the Christmas Number of The Graphic in 1874, and elements of other Gilbert plays...

uses the same device of changing the past timeline with a completely different plot that doesn't require so many changes of scenery.

An Elixir of Love — First published in Graphic, Christmas Number, 1876. This story is the basis for The Sorcerer

The Sorcerer

The Sorcerer is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Arthur Sullivan. It was the British duo's third operatic collaboration. The plot of The Sorcerer is based on a Christmas story, An Elixir of Love, that Gilbert wrote for The Graphic magazine in 1876...

, and roughly similar in plot until the end. In the opera, the status quo is restored; in the story, Jenny (Aline in the opera) going off with the equivalent of Dr. Daly, and Stanley (Alexis) must live alone.

Johnny Pounce — First published as "The Key of the Strong Room" in book collection, A Bunch of Keys, Where They Were Found and What They Might Have Unlocked. Tom Hood

Tom Hood

Tom Hood , was an English humorist and playwright, son of the poet and author Thomas Hood. A prolific author, he was appointed, in 1865, editor of the magazine Fun. He also founded Tom Hood's Comic Annual in 1867....

's Christmas Book, 1865. (retitled "Johnny Pounce" for this collection).

Little Mim — First published in Graphic, Christmas Number, 1876

The Triumph of Vice — First published in book collection Savage Club Papers, 1867. A parody of fairy tales, with a penniless baron who works as a scrivener

Scrivener

A scrivener was traditionally a person who could read and write. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and history records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities...

, his beautiful (but vain) daughter, an ugly (and almost as penniless) count staying with them who the baron's daughter detests, and an even uglier (but rich) gnome searching for a wife. The gnome has the power to turn temporarily into a handsome man three times, but rapidly returns to his ugliness. He has used up two times already courting other women, but turned so ugly between the time of engagement and the wedding that the women cried off. He engages the count to prepare the baron's daughter to be married to him immediately, on the day after the baron's daughter rejected the count, and motivated by revenge, he agrees. However, the gnome fails to pay him, and so he arranges to break his power over Bertha and (having got it in writing beforehand) marries her himself afterwards.

My Maiden Brief — First published in Cornhill magazine, 1863. A tale of a barrister who plans out his defence of a woman accused of stealing a purse with his roommate, and then has all his work end up for naught when his roommate is called to prosecute her.

Creatures of Impulse — First published as "A Strange Old Lady" in Graphic, Christmas Number 1870. It was retitled "Creatures of Impulse" for this collection and adapted as the 1871 play Creatures of Impulse

Creatures of Impulse

Creatures of Impulse is a stage play by English dramatist W. S. Gilbert, with music by composer-conductor Alberto Randegger, which Gilbert adapted from his own short story...

(with music by Alberto Randegger

Alberto Randegger

Alberto Randegger was an Italian-born composer, conductor and singing teacher, best known for promoting opera and new works of British music in England during the Victorian era and for his widely-used textbook on singing technique.-Life and career:Randegger was born in Trieste, Italy, the son of...

). An ill-tempered old fairy refuses to leave her rooms at an inn where she is not wanted. She casts spells on a series of people to make them behave contrary to their usual natures, with comic consequences.

Maxwell and I — First published as "The Income Tax: Maxwell and I" in book collection Rates and Taxes (1866). Retitled "Maxwell and I" for this collection.

Actors, Authors, and Audiences — First published in Holly Leaves (Christmas number of the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News

The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was an English weekly magazine founded in 1874 and published in London. In 1945 it changed its name to the Sport and Country, and in 1957 to the Farm and Country, before closing in 1970....

), Christmas 1880.

Angela: An Inverted Love Story — First published in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Christmas Number 1887.

Wide Awake — First published in Mirth: a miscellany of wit and humour, no.1, 1878. Adapted as the play Tom Cobb

Tom Cobb

Tom Cobb or, Fortune's Toy is a farce in three-acts by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the St. James's Theatre on 24 April 1875...

(1875).

A Stage Play — First published in Hood's Comic Annual, 1873, pp. 98-103. This is popular among biographers of Gilbert, as it sets out his directorial style in detail.

The Wicked World — First published as "The Wicked World: an allegory", Hood's Comic Annual, 1871, pp. 82-90. Adapted as the play The Wicked World

The Wicked World

The Wicked World is a blank verse play by W. S. Gilbert in three acts. It opened at the Haymarket Theatre on 1873 and ran for a successful 145 performances, closing on 1873...

(1873), and later as the opera Fallen Fairies

Fallen Fairies

Fallen Fairies; or, The Wicked World, is a two-act comic opera, with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music by Edward German. Premiering at London's Savoy Theatre on December 15, 1909, it failed miserably, closing after just 50 performances...

(1909). The plot of the story is roughly similar to that of the play, although told in a stream-of-consciousness style, with Gilbert wondering what to write, describing how he named characters, and so on. Unlike the play, love is allowed to triumph to some extent, instead of being thrown permanently out of fairyland.

The Finger of Fate — First published in Hood's Comic Annual, 1872, pp. 82-87.

A Tale of a Dry Plate — First published in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Christmas Number, 1885. A short, somewhat melodramatic story of a photographer whose fiancée is lost at sea, leaving him with only an undeveloped photographic plate of her.

The Burglar's Story — First published in Holly Leaves (Christmas number of The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News), December 8, 1883. A burglar's apprentice is caught by a house-owner, who tries out his experimental plan for dealing with criminals: He forces the burglar to hand over his clothes, then tells him—indeed, insists—that he may leave.

Unappreciated Shakespeare — First published in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, Christmas Number, 1882).

Comedy and Tragedy — First published in The Stage Door (Routledge's Christmas Annual), 1879. Adapted as the play Comedy and Tragedy (1884).

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern — First published in Fun magazine

Fun (magazine)

Fun was a Victorian weekly magazine, first published on 21 September 1861. The magazine was founded by the actor and playwright H. J. Byron in competition with Punch magazine.-Description:...

 in 1874. Adapted as the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (Gilbert)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, A Tragic Episode, in Three Tabloids is a short comic play by W. S. Gilbert, a parody of Hamlet by William Shakespeare...

(1891).

External links

• A Stage Play at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive. This is the version that appeared earlier in Hood's Comic Annual, 1873.
• Unappreciated Shakespeare at The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive.