The story of the Tailypo, a furry fiend native to Appalachia, has been well-known in the American South since the early twentieth century. A version of the story first appeared in print in Uncle Remus Returns (1918), one of a collection of volumes of African American folktales compiled by Joel Chandler Harris (1848–1908). In this story, a hungry hermit and his three dogs encountered an elusive creature in their lonely cabin and cut off its tail. After the hermit ate it and retired to bed, the vengeful varmint returned three times that night and demanded the return of its tail. The beast’s ability to talk and its “big fiery eyes” betrayed its demonic origin.
Once upon a time, way down in the big woods of Tennessee, there lived a man all by himself. His house didn’t have but one room in it, and that room was his parlor, his sitting room, his bedroom, his dining room, and his kitchen, too. At one end of the room was a great, big, open fireplace, and that’s where the man cooked and ate his supper. One night after he had cooked and ate his supper, there crept in through the cracks of the logs the most curious creature that you ever did see, and it had a great, big, long tail.
Just as soon as that man saw that varmint, he reached for his hatchet and with one stroke, he cut that thing’s tail off. The critter crept out through the cracks of the logs and ran away, and the man, like a fool, took and cooked that tail—he did!—and ate it. Then he went to bed and after a while, he went to sleep.
He hadn’t been asleep very long, when he woke up and heard something climbing up the side of his cabin. It sounded just like a cat, and he could hear it scratch, scratch, scratch, and by and by, he heard it say, “Tailypo, tailypo; all I want’s my tailypo.”
Now this here man had three dogs: one was called Uno, and one was called Ino, and the other one was called Cumptico-Calico. And when he heard that thing, he called his dogs, huh! huh! huh! And those dogs came boiling up from under the floor and they chased that thing way down in the big woods. And the man went back to bed and went to sleep.
Well, way long in the middle of the night, he woke up and he heard something right above his cabin door, trying to get in. He listened, and he could hear it scratch, scratch, scratch, and then he heard it say, “Tailypo, tailypo; all I want’s my tailypo.” And he shot up in bed and called his dogs, huh! huh! huh! And those dogs came busting around the corner of the house and they caught up with that thing at the gate and they just tore the whole fence down trying to get at it. And that time, they chased it way down into the big swamp. And the man went back to bed again and went to sleep.
Way long toward morning he woke up, and he heard something down in the big swamp. He listened and he heard it say, “Tailypo, tailypo; all I want’s my tailypo.” And he shot up in bed and called his dogs, huh! huh! huh! And you know that time, those dogs didn’t come. That thing had carried them way off down in the big swamp and killed them or lost them. And the man went back to bed and went to sleep again.
Well, just before daylight, he woke up and he heard something in his room, and it sounded like a cat, climbing up the covers at the foot of his bed. He listened and he could hear it scratch, scratch, scratch, and he looked over the foot of his bed and he saw two little pointed ears, and in a minute, he saw two big, round, fiery eyes looking at him. He wanted to call his dogs, but he was too scared to holler. That thing kept creeping up until by and by it was right on top of that man, and then it said in a low voice: “Tailypo, tailypo; all I want’s my tailypo.” And all at once that man found his voice and he said, “I ain’t got your tailypo.” And that thing said, “Yes, you have.” And it jumped on that man and scratched him all to pieces. And some folks say that he got his tailypo.
Now there isn’t anything left of that man’s cabin way down in the big woods of Tennessee, except for the chimney, and folks that live in the big valley say that when the moon shines bright and the wind blows down the valley, you can hear something say, “Tailypo,” and then die away in the distance.