Author's note: Most of these stories and tales are published for the first time; .. With the exception of one (The Patient) written in 1935 they are a selection of the stories I have written since the publication of The Tramp (Macmillan, London: 1936). ... Many good stories are in danger of being lost because we are becoming one of the world's most urbanised countries and no longer create our entertainment but get it canned, as it were, from the films and the sleek magazines. I grew up in the country in an environment in which people told stories and created a kind of folklore; today's youngsters get their "folklore" from the comic strips. ... '
- Dal Stivens, May, 1945.
