 "Foggerty's Fairy" includes a mixture of several elements that Gilbert had used in earlier work.The main device of the fairy magic, which changes a small event from the past and leads to unexpected consequences, came from a short story, "The Story of a Twelfth Cake", which Gilbert had first published in the Christmas number of "The Graphic" in 1874.This novel plot elements anticipates numerous fantasy and science fiction stories like "Back to the Future".