Wag-by-Wall

Wag-by-Wall is a book written by BeatrIX Potter, illustrated by J.J. Lankes, and published in Boston, Massachusetts by The Horn Book, Inc. in 1944. The story is AbOUT a poor grandmother who finds a stocking filled with gold in her fireplace on Christmas Eve and is able then to live happily ever after with her granddaughter. 'Wag' is the pendulum of a clock. Potter considered the book a "pendant" to The Tailor of Gloucester.

The story's origins date to November 1909 when it was called The Little Black Kettle. Potter was dissatisfied with the verses she composed for the story and never finished the tale. In 1929, she revised the story for the The Fairy Caravan and titled it Wag-by-Wall, but then pulled it from the manuscript.

Late in 1940, Bertha Mahoney Miller, the founder and editor of the Horn Book magazine asked permission to publish the tale. Potter rewrote it as a Christmas story at Miller's suggestion, [...] the 'Caravan' characters and the longer verses. The tale was published posthumously in the magazine upon its 20th anniversary in May 1944 and shortly after in book form. Proceeds were received by the magazine and The National Trust. Like its predecessor Sister Anne, the book was publishd only in the United States.

References

Footnotes

Works cited