Who has my hairy toe?"" The old hair-raiser, dealing in other versions with a ring finger or a golden arm that a ghost or corpse comes closer and closer to retrieve, is transformed here to a tiny shiver and a tinier chuckle. It begins when an old woman digs up a hairy toe in her garden. That night a hairy Thing comes Thump, thump, thump; as it gets closer the old woman hides under her bed and then in a hamper; the Thing finds the toe in a box and goes off, satisfied: ""It ran far away."" Considered strictly as a lure for beginning readers, this no doubt retains some of the pull that keeps the nugget going through endless versions. However, it seems a shame to deprive kids of the chance to experience the traditional oral tale in all its scary charm.