| There are many African American versions of this popular scary tale, as well as variants identified specifically with Appalachia. Galdone, Joanna. The Tailypo: A Ghost Story. Illus. Paul Galdone. New York: Clarion, 1977. In this picture book, an old woodsman lives in a one-room house with his three dogs: Uno, Ino, and Cumptico-Calico. After a day of hunting, the old man finds only a small rabbit to feed himself and his three dogs. Still hungry, the old woodsman begins to doze off. Just as he is about to fall asleep, a strange creature creeps through a crack between the logs in the wall. The old man cuts off the creature's long tail, cooks and eats it, and goes to bed with a full stomach. He is awakened several times throughout the night when the strange creature comes looking for its tail. Finally, the furry creature sneaks into the old man's bed, scratching everything up. Nothing remains of the old man's house except the chimney. At night, "when the moon shines and the wind blows, you can hear a voice say: 'Tailypo, tailypo, now I've got my tailypo.'" The illustrations reflect the woodsy setting. Shades of green and brown dominate and soften an otherwise scary story. There is a ten-minute video based on this book. Wahl, Jan. Tailypo! Illus. Wil Clay. New York: Henry Holt, 1991. Set in Tennessee, this African American version of "Tailypo" is at first a much scarier version than Galdone's, with very similar text; the real difference comes when the reader discovers that the creature literally eats the old man, "and some folks say it got back its tailypo." Clay's illustrations also make this version appear more sinister than Galdone's. Warm shades of red and yellow alternate with cold blues and purples to create a scary accompaniment to the text. Interestingly, a picture of a woman hangs by a nail above the bed of the woodsman. In each new illustration containing the picture, the expression of the woman changes to reflect her feelings. If you notice the woman's expressions, mostly comical, along with those of an owl in place of a cuckoo bird in a clock, they do wonders to lessen the spooky atmosphere created by Clay's vivid acrylic illustrations. "Tailipoe." In Old Greasybeard: Tales from the Cumberland Gap. Collected and annotated by Leonard Roberts. Illus. Leonard Epstein. Detroit: Folklore Associates, 1969. Rpt. Pikeville, KY: Pikeville College Press, 1980. pp. 34-36. A man living alone "way back in the hills of Kentucky" cuts off and eats the tail of "the awfulest critter he ever did see in his life" after it emerges from a crack in the floor. When it demands its tailipoe back all night, the man just sends his dog after it, so the creature eats the dog and comes to the man's bed and "tore the man all to pieces." The sound of the Tailipoe can still be heard at night. A full-page drawing shows a creature that has monkey and squirrel features scaring a white man. Recorded in 1954 in KY. "Tailipoe" (1995) and "Tailipoe" (2001). Told by Jane Muncy Fugate (from KY). Recorded by Leonard Roberts in 1955 and by Carl Lindahl in 2001. American Folktales: From the Collections of the Library of Congress. Ed. Carl Lindahl. Vol. 1. Armonk NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2004, pp. 229-33. "Tater Toe." In Anne Shelby. The Adventures of Molly Whuppie and Other Appalachian Folktales. Illus. Paula McArdle. Chapel Hill: Univ. of NC Press, 2007. pp. 15-17. McArdle's black and white illustration shows a big hair-covered shape with horns and hairy human feet looming over a scared old woman trying to sleep under her quilt. The old woman, who has found a giant toe while digging up potatoes in her garden, has put it in a canning jar, but the jar is empty after her unsettling night-time encounter (which she thinks is a dream) with the mysterious creature that demands its toe back. For more on Shelby's book, see Appalachian Folktale Collections K-Z. Tailypo: The Folktale Austin, TX: Bill Wadsworth Productions, 1990. A film adaptation of an Appalachian children's folktale about an old hunter who chops off the tail of a critter which got stranded in his cabin. The hunter cooks the tail for supper, and the critter returns for his tail after the hunter falls asleep. "Tailypo." Told by Mary Hamilton. Haunting Tales. Audio cassette. Kentucky, 1996. "Chunk O' Meat." In Richard Chase. Grandfather Tales. Boston: Houghton, 1948, pp. 40-51. With a drawing, by Berkeley Williams, Jr., of the boy looking up the chimney. In this last tale in Grandfather Tales, a little boy finds a chunk of meat outside when the family has no meat, and runs away from some eyes shining out of a log. He sneaks the meat into his mother's pot of beans on the fire, but while they enjoy their meal, a voice from the chimney asks for its chunk of meat. This is a "jump tale" with some dialogue similar to that of Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, ending with the black hairy booger up in the chimney saying it has such big teeth to "EAT YOU UP!" It also says it can stare through the boy, grabble his grave with big claws, and sweep his grave with a bushy tale. Chase got this tale from many informants of different ages in Watauga County, NC, and elsewhere. He says a young boy offered him the tale about the toe cut from the booger's foot sticking out of a log on one of his first trips to Beech Mountain, but everyone except his informants objected to the toe so he substituted the chunk of meat. He connects it with English tales such as "Teeny-Tiny," "The Strange Visitor," and "The Golden Arm." See also: Index of African American Folktales in Appalachia Jack and the Hainted House and other Haunted House Tales Ghosts section of teaching unit West Virginia's Appalachian Music and Literature Compare with: "Tailypo." Told by Jackie Torrence, a very popular African American NC storyteller. Video recording can be viewed and downloaded at BookHive web site, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, NC. The man lives in a disgraceful house full of holes. The critter with a 25-foot tail, described in fearful detail, is never seen again after he scares the man into giving back his tail. Several other tales and background on Torrence are also included. "The Big Hairy Tale" is a similar "jump tale" in her book Jackie Tales (New York: Avon, 1998). Tailypo: A Newfangled Tall Tale by Angela Shelf Medearis. Illus. Sterling Brown.New York: Holiday House, 1996. An African American boy in Texas Hill Country, Kenny Ray, and his fierce chihuahua Fang, meet the terrifying night monster. With realistic watercolors and an upbeat ending. Medearis tells this and other "jump" tales on the video Spooky Stories (Diva Productions, 30 min.) and on audio cassette. Information at Storytime Videotapes Read by Angela Shelf Medearis. "Teeny-Tiny." In English Fairy Tales. London: David Nutt, 1890. Reprinted in Heidi Ann Heiner's Sur La Lune Fairy Tale Pages. (and elsewhere on the Internet) The scary creature frightens a teeny tiny woman asking for its bone back. She found the bone on a grave and took it home to make soup. "My Big Toe." In Diane Goode's Book of Scary Stories and Songs. New York: Puffin Books, pp. 12-13. Reteller and illustrator Diane Goode notes that similar traditional American "jump" or "gotcha" tales are called "The Hairy Toe" and "Taily-Po," with parallels in Joseph Jacobs' "Teeny-Tiny" (p. 64).
Last update:
05/26/2008 |