SOLVED: Children's book about a hunter that eats the tail of the wrong animal [s]

[Jenn]

When I was really little, the author of this book came to our school and read it to us. It was a picture book about a hunter that had was pretty much obsessed with killing animals. On one hunting trip, he either tries to kill this animal he has never seen before or this animal's tail gets caught in his trap. Either way, all he gets is its tail, which has some of the most beautiful fur he has ever seen.

He skins the tail and cooks/eats the meat. That night, he hears scratching outside the cabin and it's the animal looking for its tail. He hears it whispering outside "Give me back my tail". The animal gradually gets closer and closer, first outside, then at the door, then in the house, then by the bed...all the time whispering "Give me back my tail". In the end, the hunter is never heard from again and I think the creature says something like "I finally got back my tail". Not really sure on that last line.

I remember the picture of the creature being all black, more of a silhouette with a fuzzy outline and red eyes. I could be wrong, this was like in 1990 or 1991 when this story was read to me.

Has anyone heard of this book? Thanks in advance.

[Lindsey]

This sounds like the classic folk tale called "Tailypo". Here's a link to the wikipedia article about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tailypo

It's a popular tale (pun intended!) Alvin Schwartz did a version of it featuring a hairy toe instead of a tail in his Scarry Stories series, but I'm pretty sure that's not the version you're looking for based on your description above.

Hope this helps with your search!

Good luck!

[Jenn]

Thanks Lindsey, you're great!! I was able to find the book online. It was The Tailypo: A Ghost Story by Joanna Galdone. After reading the story online, I realized my recollection of the tale was a little inaccurate. It was more like this telling of the tale from Campus Movie Fest UGA

Mystery solved in any event. Thanks a million!!