The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving Learn English Through Story Audiobook
the legend of sleepy hollow by
washington irving
found among the papers of the late
dietrich knickerbocker
a pleasing land of drowsy head it was of
dreams that wave before the half-shot
eye and of
gay castles in the clouds that pass
forever flushing round the summer sky
from castle of indolence
in the bosom of one of those spacious
coves which indent the eastern shore of
the hudson at that broad expansion of
the river denominated by the ancient
dutch navigators the tappan zee
and where they always prudently
shortened sail and implored the
protection of saint nicholas when they
crossed
there lies a small market town or rural
port which by some is called greensburg
but which is more generally and properly
known by the name of tarrytown
this name was given we are told in
former days by the good housewives of
the adjacent country from the
invertebrate propensity of their
husbands to linger about the village
tavern on market days
be that as it may i do not vouch for the
fact but merely advert to it for the
sake of being precise and authentic
not far from this village perhaps about
two miles there is a little valley or
rather lap of land among high hills
which is one of the quietest places in
the whole world
a small brook glides through it with
just murmur enough to lull one into
repose
and the occasional whistle of a quail or
topping of a woodpecker is almost the
only sound that ever breaks in upon the
uniform tranquility
i recollect that when a stripping my
first exploit in squirrel shooting was
in a grove of tall walnut trees that
shades one side of the valley
i had wandered into it at noon time when
all nature is peculiarly quiet
and was startled by the roar of my own
gun as it broke the sabbath stillness
around and was prolonged and
reverberated by the angry echoes
if ever i should wish for a retreat
wither i might steal from the world and
its distractions and dream quietly away
the remnant of a troubled life
i know of none more promising than this
little valley
from the listless repose of the place
and the peculiar character of its
inhabitants who are descendants from the
original dutch settlers this sequestered
glenn has long been known by the name of
sleepy hollow
and its rustic lads are called the
sleepy hollow boys throughout all the
neighboring country
a drowsy dreamy influence seems to hang
over the land and to pervade the very
atmosphere
some say that the place was bewitched by
a high german doctor during the early
days of the settlement others that an
old indian chief the prophet or wizard
of his tribe held his powwows there
before the country was discovered by
master henrik hudson
certain it is that the place still
continues under the sway of some
witching power that holds a spell over
the minds of the good people causing
them to walk in a continual reverie
they are given to all kinds of marvelous
beliefs are subject to trances and
visions and frequently see strange
sights and hear music and voices in the
air
the whole neighborhood abounds with
local tales haunted spots and twilight
superstitions
stars shoot and meteors glare often
across the valley than in any other part
of the country
and the nightmare with her whole
ninefold seems to make it the favorite
scene of her gambles
the dominant spirit however that haunts
this enchanted region and seems to be
commander-in-chief of all the powers of
the air is the apparition of the figure
on horseback without a head
it is said by some to be the ghost of a
hessian trooper whose head had been
carried away by a cannonball in some
nameless battle during the revolutionary
war and who is ever and and on seen by
the country folk hurrying along in the
gloom of night as if on the wings of the
wind
his haunts are not confined to the
valley but extend at times to the
adjacent roads and especially to the
vicinity of a church at no great
distance
indeed certain of the most authentic
historians of these parts who have been
careful in collecting and collating the
floating facts concerning this specter
allege that the body of the trooper
having been buried in the churchyard the
ghost rides forth to the scene of battle
in nightly quest of his head
and that the rushing speed with which he
sometimes passes along the hollow like a
midnight blast
is owing to his being belated
and in a hurry
to get back to the churchyard before
daybreak such is the general purport of
this legendary superstition which has
furnished materials for many a wild
story in that region of shadows and the
specter is known at all the country
firesides by the name of the headless
horseman of sleepy hollow
it is remarkable that the visionary
propensity i have mentioned is not
confined to the native inhabitants of
the valley but is unconsciously imbibed
by
everyone who resides there for a time
however wide awake they may have been
before they entered that sleepy region
they are sure in a little time to inhale
the witching influence of the air and
begin to grow imaginative
to dream dreams
to see
apparitions
i mention this peaceful spot with all
possible lord for it is in such little
retired dutch valleys found here and
there embosomed in the great state of
new york that population manners and
customs remain fixed while the great
torrent of migration and improvement
which is making such incessant changes
in other parts of this restless country
sweeps by them unobserved
they are like those little nooks of
still water which border a rapid stream
where we may see the straw and bubble
riding quietly at anchor or slowly
revolving in their meemic harbor
undisturbed by the rush of the passing
current
though many years have elapsed since i
trod the drowsy shades of sleepy hollow
yet i question whether i should not
still find the same trees
and the same families vegetating in its
sheltered bosom
in the spy place of nature there abode
in a remote period of american history
that is to say some 30 years since
a worthy white of the name of ichabod
crane who sojourned or as he expressed
it tarried in sleepy hollow for the
purpose of instructing the children of
the vicinity
he was a native of connecticut a state
which supplies the union with pioneers
for the mind as well as for the forest
and sends forth yearly its legions of
frontier woodmen and country
schoolmasters
the cognomen of crane was not
inapplicable to his person
he was tall but exceedingly lank with
narrow shoulders long arms and legs
hands that dangled a mile out of his
sleeves feet that might have served for
shovels and his whole frame most loosely
hung together
his head was small and flat at top with
huge ears large green glassy eyes and a
long sniped nose so that it looked like
a weather perched atop his spindle
neck to tell which way the wind blew
to see him striding along the profile of
a hill on a windy day with his clothes
bagging and fluttering about him one
might have mistaken him for the genius
of famine descending upon the earth or
some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield
his schoolhouse was a low building of
one large room rudely constructed of
logs the windows partly glazed and
partly patched with leaves of old copy
books
it was most ingeniously secured at
vacant hours by a with twisted in the
handle of the door and stakes set
against the window shutters
so that though a thief might get in with
perfect ease he would find some
embarrassment in getting out an idea
most probably borrowed by the architect
jost von houten from the mystery of an
eel pot
the schoolhouse stood in a rather lonely
but pleasant situation
just at the foot of a woody hill with a
brook running close by and a formidable
birch tree growing at one end of it
from hence the low murmur of his pupils
voices calming over their lessons might
be heard on a drowsy summer’s day like
the hum of the beehive interrupted now
and then by the authoritative voice of
the master in the tone of menace or
command or per adventure by the
appalling sound of the birch as he urged
some tardy loiterer along the flowery
path of knowledge
truth to say he was a conscientious man
and ever bore in mind the golden maxim
spare the rod and spoil the child
ichabod cranes scholars certainly were
not spoiled
i would not have it imagined however
that he was one of those cruel
potentates of the school who joy in the
smart of their subjects on the contrary
he administered justice with
discrimination rather than severity
taking the burden off the backs of the
weak and laying it on those of the
strong
your mere puny stripping that winced at
the least flourish of the rod was passed
by with indulgence but the claims of
justice were satisfied by inflicting a
double portion on some little tough
wrong-headed broad-skirted dutch urchin
who sulked and swelled and grew dogged
and sullen beneath the birch
all this he called
doing his duty by their parents and he’d
never inflicted a chastisement without
following it by the assurance so
consulatory to the smarting urchin that
he would remember it and thank him for
it the longest day he had to live
when school hours were over he was even
the companion and playmate of the larger
boys
and on holiday afternoons would convoy
some of the smaller ones home who
happened to have pretty sisters or good
housewives for mothers noted for the
comforts of their cupboard
indeed it behooved him to keep on good
terms with his pupils the revenue
arising from his school was small and
would have been scarcely sufficient to
furnish him with the daily bread for he
was a huge feeder and though like he had
the dilating powers of an anaconda but
to help out his maintenance he was
according to country custom in those
parts
boarded and lodged at the houses of the
farmers whose children he instructed
with these he lived successfully a week
at a time thus going the rounds of the
neighborhood with all his worldly
effects tied up in a cotton handkerchief
that all this might not be too onerous
on the purses of his rustic patrons who
are apt to consider the costs of
schooling a grievous burden and
schoolmasters as mere drones he had
various ways of rendering himself both
useful and agreeable
he assisted the farmers occasionally in
the lighter labors of their farms helped
to make hay mended the fences took the
horses to water drove the cows from
pasture and cut wood for the winter fire
he laid aside too all the dominant
dignity and absolute sway with which he
lorded it in his little empire the
school and became wonderfully gentle and
ingratiating he found favor in the eyes
of the mothers by petting the children
particularly the youngest
and like the lion bold which will whom
so magnanimously the lamb did hold he
would sit with a child upon one knee
and rock a cradle with his foot for
hours together
in addition to his other vocations he
was the singing master of the
neighborhood and picked up many bright
shillings by instructing the young folks
in salmony
it was a matter of no little vanity to
him on sundays to take his station in
front of the church gallery with a band
of chosen singers where in his own mind
he completely carried away the palm from
the parson
certain it is his voice resounded far
above all the rest of the congregation
and there are particular quavers still
to be heard in that church and which may
even be heard a half mile off quite to
the opposite side of the middle pond on
a still sunday morning which are said to
be legitimately descended from the nose
of ichabod crane
thus by divers that’ll makeshifts and in
that ingenious way which is commonly
denominated
by hook and by crook
the worthy pedagogue got on tolerably
enough and was thought by all who
understood nothing of the labor of
headwork to have a wonderfully easy life
of it
the master is generally a man of some
importance in the female circle of a
rural neighborhood being considered a
kind of idle gentlemanly personage of
vastly superior taste and
accomplishments to the rough country
swains and indeed inferior in learning
only to the parson
his appearance therefore is apt to
occasion some little stir at the tea
table of a farmhouse and the addition of
a supernumerate dish of cakes or sweet
meats or per adventure the parade of a
silver teapot
our man of letters therefore was
peculiarly happy in the smiles of all
the country damsels
how he would figure among them in the
churchyard between services on sundays
gathering grapes for them in the wild
vines that overran the surrounding trees
reciting for their amusement all the
epitaphs on the tombstones or sauntering
with the whole bevy of them along the
banks of the adjacent millpond while the
more bashful country bumpkins hung
sheepishly back envying his superior
elegance and address
from his half itinerant life also he was
a kind of traveling gazette
carrying the whole budget of local
gossip from house to house so that his
appearance was always greeted with
satisfaction
he was moreover esteemed by the women as
a man of great erudition for he had read
several books quite through and was the
perfect master of cotton mather’s
history of new england witchcraft in
which by the way he most firmly and
potently believed
he was in fact an odd mixture of
shrewdness and simple credulity
his appetite for the marvelous and his
powers of digesting it were equally
extraordinary and both had been
increased by his residence in this
spellbound region
no tale was too gross or monstrous for
this capricious swallow it was often his
delight after his school was dismissed
in the afternoon to stretch himself on
the rich bed of clover bordering the
little brook that whimpered by his
schoolhouse
and there con over old mother’s dire
full tales until the gathering dusk of
evening made the printed page a mere
mist before his eyes
then as he wended his way by swamp and
stream and awful woodland to the
farmhouse where he happened to be
quartered
every sound of nature at that witching
hour
fluttered and excited imagination
the moan of the whippoorwill from the
hillside the boating cry of the tree
toad that harbinger of storm the dreary
hooting of the screech owl or the sudden
rustling in the thicket of birds
frightened from their roost
the fireflies too which sparkled most
vividly in the darkest place now and
then startled him
as one of uncommon brightness would
stream across his path and if by chance
a huge blockhead of a beetle came
winging his blundering flight against
him
the poor violet was ready to give up the
ghost with the idea that he was struck
with a witch’s token
his only resource on such occasions
either to drown thought or drive away
evil spirits was to sing psalm tunes and
the good people of sleepy hollow as they
sat by their doors of an evening were
often filled with awe at hearing his
nasal melody
in linked sweetness long drawn out
floating from the distant hill or along
the dusky road
another of his sources of fearful
pleasure was to pass long winter
evenings with the old dutch wives as
they sat spinning by the fire with a row
of apples roasting and spluttering along
the hearth and to listen to their
marvelous tales of ghosts and goblins
and haunted fields and haunted brooks
and haunted bridges and haunted houses
and
particularly of the headless horseman or
galloping hessian of the hollow as they
sometimes called him
he would delight them equally by his
anecdotes of witchcraft and of the
direful omens and portentious sights and
sounds in the air which prevailed in the
earlier times of connecticut and would
frighten them woefully with speculations
upon comets and shooting stars
and with the alarming fact that the
world did absolutely turn around
and that they were half the time topsy
turvy
but if there were a pleasure in all this
while snuggling cuddling in the chimney
corner of a chamber that was all of a
ruddy glow from the crackling wood fire
and where of course no specter dared to
show its face
it was dearly purchased by the terrors
of his subsequent walk homeward
what fearful shapes and shadows beset
this path amid the dim and ghastly glare
of a snowy night
with what wistful look did he eye every
trembling ray of light streaming across
the waist fields from some distant
window
how often was he appalled by some shrub
covered with snow which like a sheeted
specter beset his very path
how often did he shrink with curdling
awe at the sound of his own steps on the
frosty crust beneath his feet
and dread to look over his shoulder lest
he should behold some uncouth being
tramping close behind him
and how often was he thrown into
complete dismay by some rushing blast
howling among the trees
in the idea that it was the galloping
hessian of one of his nightly scourings
all these however were mere terrors of
the night phantoms of the mind that walk
in darkness
and though he had seen many specters in
his time and had been more than once
beset by satan in divers shapes in his
lonely perambulations yet daylight put
an end to all these evils and he would
have passed a pleasant life of it in
spite of the devil and all his works if
his path had not been crossed by a being
that causes
more perplexity to mortal man than
ghosts goblins and the whole race of
which is put together
and that was
a woman
among the musical disciples who
assembled one evening each week to
receive his instructions in somebody was
katrina van tassel the daughter and only
child of a substantial dutch farmer
she was a blooming glass of fresh 18
plump as a partridge ripe and melting
and rosy cheeked as one of her father’s
peaches and universally famed not merely
for her beauty but her vast expectations
she was with all a little of a coquette
as might be perceived even in her dress
which was a mixture of ancient and
modern fashions as most suited to set
off her charms
she wore the ornaments of pure yellow
gold which her great great grandmother
had brought over from
the tempting stomacher of the olden time
and with all a provokingly short
petticoat to display the prettiest foot
and ankle in the country round
ichabod crane had a soft and foolish
heart towards the sex and it is not to
be wondered that so tempting a morsel
soon found favor in his eyes
more especially after he had visited her
in her paternal mansion old baltus von
tossel was a perfect picture of a
thriving contented liberal-hearted
farmer
he seldom it is true sent either his
eyes or his thoughts beyond the
boundaries of his own farm but within
those everything was snug happy and well
conditioned
he was satisfied with his wealth but not
proud of it and piqued himself upon the
hearty abundance rather than the style
in which he lived his stronghold was
situated on the banks of the hudson in
one of those green sheltered fertile
nooks in which the dutch farmers are so
fond of nestling
a great elm tree had spread its broad
branches over it at the foot of which
bubbled up a spring of the softest and
sweetest water in a little well formed
of a barrel and then stole sparkling
away through the grass to a neighboring
brook that babbled among the alders and
dwarf willows
hard by the farmhouse was a vast barn
that might have served for a church
every window and crevice of which seemed
bursting forth with the treasures of the
farm the flail was busily resounding
within it from morning till night
swallows and martins skimmed twittering
about the eaves and rows of pigeons some
with one eye turned up as if watching
the weather some with their heads under
their wings or buried in their bosoms
and others swelling and cooing and
bowing about their dames were enjoying
the sunshine on the roof
sleek unwieldy
porkers were grunting in the repose and
abundance of their pens from which salad
forth now and then troops of sucking
pigs as if to snuff the air
a stately squadron of snowy geese were
riding in an adjoining pond convoying
whole fleets of ducks regiments of
turkeys were gobbling through the farm
yard and guinea fowls fretting about it
like ill-tempered housewives with their
peevish discontented cry
before the barn door strutted the
gallant that pattern of a husband a
warrior and a fine gentleman clapping
his burnished wings and crowing in the
pride and gladness of his heart
sometimes tearing up the earth with his
feet and then generously calling his
ever hungry family of wives and children
to enjoy the rich morsel which he had
discovered
the pedagogue’s mouth watered as he
looked upon this sumptuous promise of
luxurious winter fair
in his devouring mind’s eye he pictured
to himself every roasting pig running
about with a pudding in his belly and an
apple in his mouth
the pigeons were snuggly put to bed in a
comfortable pie and tucked in with a
coverlet of crust the geese were
swimming in their own gravy and the
ducks pairing cozily in dishes like snug
married couples with a decent competency
of onion sauce
in the porkers he saw carved out the
future sleek side of bacon and juicy
relishing ham not a turkey but he beheld
daintily trust up with its gizzard under
its wing and per adventure and necklace
of savory sausages
and even bright chanticleer himself lay
sprawling on his back in a side dish
with uplifted claws as if craving that
quarter which his chivalrous spirit
disdained to ask while living as the
enraptured ichabod fancied all this and
as he rolled his great green eyes over
the fat meadowlands the rich fields of
wheat of rye of buckwheat and indian
corn and the orchards burdened with
ruddy fruit which surrounded the warm
tenement of van tassel
his heart yearned after the damsel who
was to inherit these domains
and his imagination expanded with the
idea how they might be readily turned
into cash
and the money invested in immense tracts
of wild land and shingle palaces in the
wilderness
they his busy fancy already realized his
hopes and presented to him the blooming
katrina with a whole family of children
mounted on top of the wagon loaded with
household trump ray with pots and
kettles dangling beneath and he beheld
himself astride a pacing mare with a
colt at her heels setting out for
kentucky
tennessee or
the lord knows where
when he entered the house the conquest
of his heart was complete
it was one of those spacious farmhouses
with high ridged but lowly sloping roofs
built in the style handed down from the
first dutch settlers the low projecting
eaves forming a piazza along the front
capable of being closed up in bad
weather
under this were hung flails harness
various utensils of husbandry and nets
for fishing in the neighboring river
benches were built along the sides for
summer use and a great spinning wheel at
one end and a churn at the other showed
the various uses to which this important
porch might be devoted
from this piazza the wondering ichabod
entered the hall which formed the center
of the mansion and the place of usual
residence
here rose of resplendent pewter ranged
on a long dresser dazzled his eyes in
one corner hung a huge bag of wool ready
to be spun in another a quantity of
lindsay woolsey just from the loom
ears of indian corn and strings of dried
apples and peaches hung in gay festoons
along the walls mingled with the god of
red peppers and the door left a jar gave
him a peep into the best parlour where
the claw footed chairs and dark mahogany
tables shone like mirrors and irons with
their accompanying shovel and tongs
glistened from their covert of asparagus
tops
mock oranges and conch shells decorated
the mantelpiece strings of various
colored bird eggs were suspended above
it a great ostrich egg was hung from the
center of the room
and a corner cupboard knowingly left
open
displayed immense treasures of old
silver and well-mended china
from the moment ichabod laid his eyes
upon these regions of delight the peace
of his mind was at an end and his only
study was how to gain the affections of
the peerless daughter of van tassel
in this enterprise however he had more
real difficulties than generally fell to
the lot of a knight errant of yore who
seldom had anything but giants
enchanters fiery dragons and such like
easily conquered adversaries to contend
with and had to make his way merely
through gates of iron and brass and
walls of adamant to the castle keep
where the lady of his heart was confined
all of which he achieved as easily as a
man would carve his way to the center of
a christmas pie
and then the lady gave him her hand as a
matter of course
ichabod on the contrary had to win his
way to the heart of a country coquette
beset with a labyrinth of whims and
caprices which were forever presenting
new difficulties and impediments
and he had to encounter a host of
fearful adversaries of real flesh and
blood
the numerous rustic admirers who beset
every portal to her heart keeping a
watchful and angry eye upon each other
but ready to fly out in common cause
against any new competitor
among these the most formidable was a
burly roaring roystering blade of the
name of abraham
or according to the dutch abbreviation
brahm von brunt
the hero of the country round which
ranged with his feats of strength and
hardy hood
he was broad-shouldered and
double-jointed with short curly black
hair and a bluff but not unpleasant
countenance
having a mingled air of fun and
arrogance
from his herculean frame and great
powers of limb he had received the
nickname
bones by which he was universally known
he was famed for great knowledge and
skill in horsemanship being as dexterous
on horseback as a tartar
he was foremost at all races and
cockfights and with the ascendancy which
bodily strength always acquires in
rustic life
he was the umpire in all disputes
setting his hat on one side and giving
his decisions with an air and tone that
admitted to no gainsay or appeal
he was always ready for either a fight
or a frolic but had more mischief than
ill will in his composition and with all
his overbearing roughness there was a
strong dash of waggish good humor at
bottom
he had three or four boone companions
who regarded him as their model and at
the end of whom he scoured the country
attending every scene of feud or
merriment for miles around
in cold weather he was distinguished by
a fur cap surmounted with a flaunting
fox’s tail and when the folks at a
country gathering described this
well-known crest at a distance whisking
about among the squad of hard riders
they always stood by for a squall
sometimes his crew would be heard
dashing along past farmhouses at
midnight with whoop and hello like a
troop of don cossacks and the old dames
startled out of their sleep would listen
for a moment till the hurry scurry had
clattered by and then exclaimed
i there goes braum bones and his gang
the neighbors looked upon him with a
mixture of awe admiration and goodwill
and when any madcap prank or rustic
brawl occurred in the vicinity they
always shook their heads and warranted
brom bones was at the bottom of it
this rantapol hero had for some time
singled out the blooming katrina for the
object of his uncouth gallantries and
though his amorous toyings were
something like the gentle caresses and
endearments of a bear yet it was
whispered that she did not altogether
discourage his hopes
certain it is his advances were signals
for rival candidates to retire who felt
no inclination to cross a lion in his
armors
in so much that when his horse was seen
tied to van tassel’s paling on a sunday
night a sure sign that his master was
courting or as it is termed sparking
within
all other suitors passed by in despair
and carried the war to other quarters
such was the formidable rival with whom
ichabod crane had to contend and
considering all things a stouterman than
he would have shrunk from the
competition
and a wiser man would have despaired
he had however a happy mixture of
pliability and perseverance in his
nature he was in form and spirit like a
supple jack yielding but tough
though he bent he never broke and though
he bowed beneath the slightest pressure
yet
the moment it was away jerk he was erect
and carried his head as high as ever
to have taken the field openly against
his rival would have been madness for he
was not a man to be thwarted in his
amores any more than that stormy lover
achilles ichabod therefore made his
advances in a quiet and gently
insinuating manner
under cover of his character of singing
master he made frequent visits at the
farmhouse not that he had anything to
apprehend from the meddlesome
interference of parents which is so
often a stumbling block in the path of
lovers
balt van tassel was an easy indulgent
soul he loved his daughter better than
his pipe and like a reasonable man and
an excellent father let her have her way
in everything
his notable little wife too had enough
to do to attend to her housekeeping and
manage her poultry for as she sagely
observed ducks and geese are foolish
things and must be looked after but
girls can take care of themselves
thus while the busy dame bustled about
the house or plied her spinning wheel at
the one end of the piazza honest bolt
would sit smoking his pipe at the other
watching the achievements of a little
wooden warrior who armed with a sword in
each hand was most valiantly fighting in
the wind in the pinnacle of the barn
in the meantime ichabod would carry on
his suit with the daughter by the side
of the spring under the great elm or
sauntering along in the twilight that
hour so favorable to the lover’s
eloquence
i profess not to know how women’s hearts
are wooed and one to me they have always
been matters of riddle and admiration
some seem to have but one vulnerable
point or door of access while others
have a thousand avenues and may be
captured in a thousand different ways
it is a great triumph of skill to gain
the former but a still greater proof of
generalship to maintain possession of
the latter for a man must battle for his
fortress at every door and window
he who wins a thousand common hearts is
therefore entitled to some renown
but he who keeps undisputed sway over
the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero
certain it is this was not the case with
the redoubtable brom bones and from the
moment ichabod crane made his advances
the interests of the former evidently
declined his horse was no longer seen
tied to the palings on saturday nights
and a deadly feud gradually arose
between him
and the preceptor of sleepy hollow
brahm who had a degree of rough chivalry
in his nature would feign have carried
matters to open warfare and have settled
their pretensions to the lady according
to the mode of those most concise and
simple reasoners the knights errant of
yore by single combat
but ichabod was too conscious of the
superior might of his adversary to enter
the lists against him
he had overheard a boast of bones that
he would double the schoolmaster up and
lay him on a shelf of his own
schoolhouse
and he was too wary to give him an
opportunity
there was something extremely provoking
in this obstinately pacific system
it left brahm no alternative but to draw
upon the funds of rustic waggery in his
disposition
and to play off boorish practical jokes
upon his rival
ichabod became the object of whimsical
persecution to bones and his gang of
rough riders they hurried his hitherto
peaceful domains smoked out the singing
school by stopping up the chimney broke
into the schoolhouse at night in spite
of its formidable fastenings of why than
window stakes
and turned everything topsy-turvy so
that the poor schoolmaster began to
think all the witches in the country
held their meetings there
but what was still more annoying
brahm took all the opportunities of
turning him into ridicule in the
presence of his mistress
and a scoundrel dog whom he taught to
whine in the most ludicrous manner and
introduced as a rival of ichabods to
instructor in salmony
in this way matters went on for some
time without producing any material
effect on the relative situations of the
contending powers
on a fine autumnal afternoon ichabod in
pensive mood sat enthroned on the lofty
stool from whence he usually watched all
the concerns of his little literary
realm
in his hand he swayed a feral that
scepter of despotic power the birch of
justice reposed on three nails behind
the throne
a constant terror to evildoers while on
the desk before him might be seen
sundry contraband articles and
prohibited weapons detected upon the
persons of idol urchins such as half
munched apples pop guns whirly gigs fly
cages and whole legions of rampant
little paper game
apparently there had been some appalling
act of justice recently inflicted for
his scholars were all busily intent upon
their books or slyly whispering behind
them with what i kept on the master and
a kind of buzzing stillness reigned
throughout the school room
it was suddenly interrupted by the
appearance of a negro in a tow cloth
jacket and trousers a round crowned
fragment of a hat like the cap of
mercury and mounted on the back of a
ragged wild half-broken cult which he
managed with a rope by way of a halter
he came clattering up to the school with
an invitation to ichabod to attend a
merrymaking or quilting frolic to be
held that afternoon at my near van
tassels and having delivered his message
with that air of importance and effort
at fine language which a negro is apt to
display on petty embassies of the kind
he dashed over the brook and was seen
scampering away up the hollow full of
the importance and hurry of his mission
all was now bustle and hubbub in the
late quiet school room the scholars were
hurried through their lessons without
stopping at trifles those who were
nimble skipped over half with impunity
and those who were tardy had a smart
application now and then in the rear to
quicken their speed or help them over a
tall word books were flung aside without
being put away on the shelves zinc
stands were overturned ventures thrown
down and the whole school was turned
loose an hour before the usual time
bursting forth like a legion of young
imps yelping and racketing about the
green in joy at their early emancipation
the galantica pod now spent at least an
extra half hour at his toilets brushing
and refurbishing up his best and indeed
only suit of rusty black and arranging
his locks by a bit of broken looking
glass that hung up in the schoolhouse
that he might make his appearance before
his mistress in the true style of a
cavalier
he borrowed a horse from the farmer with
whom he was domicilated a choleric old
dutchman of the name of hans bound
ripper and thus gallantly mounted issued
forth like a night errant in quest of
adventures
but it is meat i should in the true
spirit of romantic story give some
account of the looks and equipments of
my hero and his steed
the animal he bestrode was a broken down
plow horse that had outlived almost
everything but its viciousness
he was gaunt and shagged with a u-neck
and a head like a hammer his rusty mane
and tail were tangled and knotted with
burrs
one eye had lost its pupil and was
glaring and spectral but the other had
the gleam of a genuine devil in it
still he must have had fire and metal in
his day if we may judge from the name he
bore of gunpowder he had in fact been a
favorite steed of his masters the
choleric van ripper who was a furious
rider and had infused very probably some
of his own spirit into the animal for
old and broken down as he looked there
was more of the lurking devil in him
than in any young philly in the country
ichabod was a suitable figure for such a
steed he rode with short stirrups which
brought his knees nearly up to the
pommel of his saddle his sharp elbows
stuck out like grasshoppers he carried
his whip perpendicularly in his hand
like a scepter and as his horse jogged
on the motion of his arms was not unlike
the flapping of a pair of wings
a small wool hat rested at the top of
his nose for so his scanty strip of
forehead might be called and the skirts
of his black coat fluttered out almost
to the horse’s tail
such was the appearance of ichabod and
his steed as they shambled out of the
gate of hans von ripper and it was
altogether such an apparition as is
seldom to be met with in broad daylight
it was as i have said a fine autumnal
day the sky was very clear and serene
and nature wore that rich and golden
livery which we always associate with
the idea of abundance
the forests had put on their sober brown
and yellow while some trees of the
tenderer kind had been nipped by the
frosts into brilliant eyes of orange
purple and scarlet streaming files of
wild ducks began to make their
appearance high in the air the bark of
the squirrel might be heard from the
groves of beech and hickory nuts and the
pensive whistle of the quail at
intervals from the neighboring stubble
field
the small birds were taking their
farewell banquets
in the fullness of their revelry they
fluttered chirping and frolicking from
bush to bush and tree to
capricious from the very profusion and
variety around them
there was the honest robin the
favorite game of stripling sportsman
with its loud queerless note and the
twittering blackbirds flying in sable
clouds and the golden winged woodpecker
with his crimson crest his broad black
gorget and splendid plumage and the
cedar bird with its red-tipped wings and
yellow tipped tail in its little montero
cap of feathers and the blue jay that
noisy cock’s comb in his gay light blue
coat and white underclothes screaming
and chattering nodding and bobbing and
bowing and pretending to be on good
terms with every songster of the grove
as ichabod jogged slowly on his way his
eye ever opened to every symptom of
culinary abundance ranged with delight
over the treasures of jolly autumn
on all sides he beheld vast store of
apples
some hanging in oppressive opulence on
the trees some gathered into baskets and
barrels with the market others heaped up
in rich piles for the cider press
farther on he beheld great fields of
indian corn with its golden ears peeping
from their leafy converts and holding
out the promise of cakes and hasty
pudding and the yellow pumpkins lying
beneath them turning up their fair round
bellies to the sun and giving ample
prospects of the most luxurious of pies
and anon he passed the fragrant
buckwheat fields breathing the odor of
the beehive and as he beheld them
soft anticipation stole over his mind of
dainty slap jacks well buttered and
garnished with honey or trickle by the
delicate little dimpled hand of
katarina van tassel
thus feeding his mind with many sweet
thoughts and sugared suppositions he
journeyed along the sides of a range of
hills which look out upon some of the
goodliest scenes of the mighty hudson
the sun gradually wheeled his broad disk
down in the west the wide bosom of the
tapanzi lay motionless and glassy
accepting that here and there a gentle
undulation waved and prolonged the blue
shadow in the distant mountain
a few amber clouds floated in the sky
without a breath of air to move them
the horizon was of a fine golden tint
changing gradually into a pure apple
green
and from that
into the deep blue of the mid heaven
a slanting ray lingered on the woody
crests of the precipices that overhung
some parts of the river giving greater
depth to the dark grey and purple of
their rocky sides
a sloop was loitering in the distance
dropping slowly down with the tide her
sail hanging uselessly against the mast
and
as the reflection of the sky gleamed
along the still water
it seemed as if the vessel
was suspended in air
it was toward evening that ichabod
arrived at the castle of the
van tassel
which he found thronged with the pride
and flower of the adjacent country
old farmers a spare leather and faced
race in home spun coats and britches
blue stockings huge shoes and
magnificent pewter buckles
their brisk withered little dames in
close crimped caps long wasted short
gowns home spun petticoats with scissors
and pin cushions and gay calico pockets
hanging on the outside
buxom lasses almost as antiquated as
their mothers accepting where a straw
hat a fine ribbon or perhaps a white
frock gave symptoms of city innovation
the suns in short square skirted coats
with rows of stupendous brass buttons
and their hair generally cued in the
fashion of the times especially if they
could procure an eel skin for the
purpose
it’s being esteemed throughout the
country as a potent nourisher and
strengthener of the hair
brahm bones however was the hero of the
scene having come to the gathering on
his favorite steed daredevil a creature
like himself full of metal and mischief
and which no one but himself could
manage
he was in fact noted for preferring
vicious animals given to all kinds of
tricks which kept the rider in a
constant risk of his neck for he held a
tractable well-broken horse as unworthy
of a lad of spirit
fein would i pause to dwell upon the
world of charms that burst upon the
enraptured gaze of my hero as he entered
the state parlor of van tassel’s mansion
not those of the bevy of buxom lasses
with their luxurious display of red and
white but the ample charms of a genuine
dutch country tea table in the sumptuous
time of autumn
such heaped up platters of cakes of
various and almost indescribable kinds
known only to experienced dutch
housewives
there was the doughty donut the tender
only cook
and the crisp and crumbling crueler
sweet cakes and shortcakes ginger cakes
and honey cakes and the whole family of
cakes and then there were apple pies
and peach pies and pumpkin pies and
besides slices of ham and smoked beef
and moreover delectable dishes of
preserved plums and peaches and pears
and quinces not to mention broiled shad
and roasted chickens together with bowls
of milk and cream all mingled
higgledy-piggledy pretty much as i have
enumerated them with the motherly teapot
sending up its clouds of vapor from the
mist
heaven bless the mark
i want breath and time to discuss this
banquet as it deserves and am too eager
to get on with my story happily ichabod
crane was not in so great a hurry as his
historian but did ample justice to every
dainty
he was a kind and thankful creature
whose heart dilated in proportion as his
skin was filled with good cheer
and whose spirits rose with eating as
some men’s do with drink
he would not help too rolling his large
eyes about him as he ate and chuckling
with the possibility that he might one
day be lord of all this scene of almost
unimaginable luxury and splendor
then he thought how soon he’d turn his
back upon the old school house snap his
fingers in the face of hans van ripper
and every other niggerly patron and kick
any itinerant pedagogue out the doors
that he should dare to call him comrade
old balthus von tassel moved about among
his guests with a face dilated with
content and good humor round and jolly
as the harvest moon
his hospitable attentions were brief but
expressive being confined to a shake of
the hand a slap on the shoulder allowed
laugh and a pressing invitation to fall
to and help themselves
and now the sound of the music from the
common room or hall summoned to the
dance
the musician was an old gray-headed
negro who had bid the itinerant
orchestra out the neighborhood for more
than half a century
his instrument was old and battered as
himself the greater part of the time he
scraped on two or three strings
accompanying every movement of the bow
with a motion of his head
bowing almost to the ground and stamping
with his foot whenever a fresh couple
were to start
ichabod prided himself upon his dancing
as much as upon his vocal powers not
only another fiber about him was idle
and to have seen his loosely hung frame
in full motion and clattering about the
room you would have thought saint vitus
himself that blessed patron of the dance
was figuring before you in person
he was the admiration of all the negroes
who having gathered of all ages and
sizes from the farm and the neighborhood
stood forming a pyramid of shining black
faces at every door and window gazing
with delight at the scene rolling their
white eyeballs and showing grinning rows
of ivory from ear to ear
how could the flogger of urchins be
otherwise than animated and joyous
the lady of his heart was his partner in
the dance and smiling graciously in
reply to all his amorous arglings while
brom bones sorely smitten with love and
jealousy sat brooding by himself in the
corner
when the dance was at an end ichabod was
attracted to a knot of the sager folks
who with old van tassels sat smoking at
one end of the piazza gossiping over
former times and drawing out the long
stories about the war
this neighborhood that’s the time of
which i am speaking was one of those
highly favored places which abound with
chronicle and great men
the british and american line had run
near it during the war and it had
therefore been the scene of marauding
and infested with refugees cowboys and
all kinds of border chivalry
just sufficient time had elapsed to
enable each storyteller to dress up his
tale with a little becoming fiction and
in the indistinctness of his
recollection to make himself the hero of
every exploit
there was the story of dofu martling a
large blue bearded dutchman who had
nearly taken a british frigate with an
old iron nine pounder from a mud
breathwork only that his gun burst at
the sixth discharge
and there was an old gentleman who shall
be nameless being too rich a miner to be
lightly mentioned
who in the battle of white plains being
an excellent master of defense parried a
musket ball with a small sword in so
much that he absolutely felt it whiz
round the blade and glance off the hilt
in proof of which he was ready at any
time to show the sword with the hilt a
little bent
there were several more that had been
equally great in that field not one of
whom but was persuaded that he had a
considerable and in bringing the war to
a happy termination
but all these were nothing to the tales
of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded
the neighborhood was rich in legendary
treasures of the kind
local tales and superstitions thrive
best in these sheltered long settled
retreats
but are trampled underfoot by the
shifting throng that forms the
population of most country places
besides there is no encouragement for
ghosts in most of our villages for they
have scarcely had time to finish their
first snap and turn themselves over in
their graves before their surviving
friends have traveled away from the
neighborhood so that when they turn out
at night to walk their rounds they have
no acquaintance left to call upon
this is perhaps the reason why we so
seldom hear of ghosts
except in our
long-established dutch communities
the immediate cause however of the
prevalence of supernatural stories in
these parts was doubtless owing to the
vicinity of sleepy hollow
there was a contagion and the very air
that blew from that haunted region
it breathed forth an atmosphere of
dreams and fancies infecting all the
land
several of the sleepy hollow people were
present at van tassels and as usual were
doling out their wild and wonderful
legends
many dismal tales were told about
funeral trains and mourning cries and
wailings heard and seen about the great
tree where the unfortunate major andre
was taken
and which stood in the neighborhood
some mention was also given of the women
in white that haunted the dark glen at
raven rock
and was often heard to shriek on winter
nights before a storm
having perished there in the snow
the chief part of the stories however
turned about the favorite specter of
sleepy hollow the headless horseman
who had been heard several times of late
patrolling the country and it was said
tethered his horse nightly among the
graves in the churchyard
the sequestered situation of this church
seems always to have made it a favorite
haunt of troubled spirits
it stands on a knoll surrounded by
locust trees and lofty elms from among
which its decent whitewashed walls shine
modestly forth like christian purity
beaming through the shades of retirement
a gentle slope descends from it to a
silver sheet of water
bordered by high trees between which
peeps may be caught at the blue hills of
the hudson
to look upon its grass-grown yard where
the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly
one would think that there at least the
dead might rest in peace
on one side of the church extends a wide
woody del along which raves of a large
brook among broken rocks and trunks have
fallen down trees
over a deep black part of the stream not
far from the church was formerly thrown
a wooden bridge
the road that led to it and the bridge
itself were thickly shaded by
overhanging trees which cast a gloom
about it even in the daytime but
occasioned a fearful darkness at night
such was one of the favorite haunts of
the headless horseman
and the place where he was most
frequently encountered
the tale was told of old brewer the most
heretical disbeliever in ghosts of how
he met the horsemen returning from his
foray into sleepy hollow and was obliged
to get up behind him and how they
galloped over bush and break over hill
and swamp
until they reached the bridge
when the horsemen suddenly turned into a
skeleton through old brewer into the
brook and sprang away over the treetops
with a crap of thunder
this story was immediately matched by a
thrice marvelous adventure brahm bones
who made light of the galloping hessian
as an errant jockey he affirmed that on
returning one night from the neighboring
village of xinxing he had been overtaken
by this midnight trooper
that he had offered to race him for a
bowl of punch and should have won it too
for daredevil beat that goblin horse all
hollow but just as they came to the
church bridge the hessian bolted and
vanished in a flash of fire
all these tales told in that drowsy
undertone with which men talk in the
dark the countenances of the listeners
only now and then receiving a casual
gleam from the glare of a pipe
sank deep in the mind of ichabod
he repaid them in kind with large
extracts from his invaluable author
cotton mother
and added many marvelous events that had
taken place in his native state of
connecticut and fearful sights which he
had seen in his nightly walks about
sleepy hollow
the rebel now gradually broke up the old
farmers gathered together their families
in their wagons and were heard for some
time rattling along the hollow roads and
over the distant hills
some of the damsels mounted on pillions
behind their favorite swains and their
light-hearted laughter mingling with the
clatter of hooves
echoed through the dark silent woodlands
sounding fainter and fainter until they
gradually died away and
the late scene of noise and frolic was
all silent
and deserted
ichabod only lingered behind according
to the custom of country lovers to habit
with the heiress
fully convinced that he was now on the
high road to success
what passed at this interview i will not
pretend to say for in fact i do not know
something however i fear me must have
gone wrong for he certainly sallied
forth after no very great interval with
an heir quite desolate and chapfallen
oh these women these women could that
girl have been playing off any of her
coquettish tricks
was her encouragement of the poor
pedagogue all the mere sham to secure
her conquest of his rival
evan only knows not i let it suffice to
say that ichabod stole forth with the
air of one who has been sacking a hen
roost rather than a fair lady’s heart
without looking to either left or right
to notice the scene of rural wealth on
which he had so often gloated he went
straight to the stable and with several
hearty cuffs and kicks roused his steed
most uncourteously from the comfortable
quarters in which he was soundly
sleeping
dreaming of mountains of cord and oats
and whole valleys of timothy and clover
it was the very witching time of night
that ichabod heavy hearted and
crestfallen pursued his travels
homewards along the sides of the lofty
hills which rise above tarrytown
and which he had traversed so cheerily
in the afternoon
the hour was as dismal as himself
far below the tappan zee spread its
dusky and indistinct waste of waters
with here and there the tall mast of a
snoop riding quietly at anchor under the
land
in the dead hush of midnight
he could even hear the barking of the
watchdog from the opposite shore of the
hudson but it was so vague and faint as
to only give an idea of his distance
from the faithful companion of man
now and then to the long drawn-out
crowing of a accidentally awakened
with sound
far far off
from some farmhouse away from the hills
but it was like a dreaming sound in his
ear no sounds of life occurred near him
but occasionally the melancholy chirp of
the cricket or perhaps the guttural
twang of a bullfrog in its neighboring
marsh as if sleeping uncomfortably and
turning suddenly in his bed
all the stories of ghosts and goblins
that he had heard in the afternoon now
came crowding upon his recollection
the night grew darker
and darker
the stars seemed to sink deeper in the
sky and driving clouds occasionally hid
them from his sight
he had never felt so lonely and dismal
he was moreover approaching the very
place where
many of the scenes of the ghost stories
had been laid
in the center of the road stood an
enormous tulip tree which towered like a
giant above all the other trees of the
neighborhood and formed a kind of
landmark
its limbs were gnarled and fantastic
large enough to form trunks for ordinary
trees twisting down almost to the earth
and rising again into the air
it was connected with the tragical story
of the unfortunate andre
who had been taken prisoner hard by and
was universally known by the name of
major andre’s tree
the common people regarded it with a
mixture of respect and superstition
partly out of sympathy for the fate of
its ill-starred namesake
and partly from the tales of strange
sights and dullful lamentations told
concerning it
as ichabod approached this fearful tree
he began to whistle
he thought his whistle was answered but
it was but a blast sweeping sharply
through the dry branches
as he approached a little nearer he
thought he saw something white hanging
in the midst of the trees
he paused and ceased whistling but
on looking more narrowly he perceived
that it was a place where
the tree had been scathed by lightning
in the white wood laid there
suddenly he heard a groan his teeth
shattered his knees smote against the
saddle
it was but the rubbing of one huge bow
upon another as they were swayed about
by the breeze
he passed the tree in safety
but new perils lay before him
about a hundred yards from the tree a
small brook crossed the road and ran
into a marshy and thickly wooded glen
known by the name of wiley’s swamp
a few rough logs laid side by side
served for a bridge over this stream
on that side of the road where the brook
entered the wood
a group of oaks and chestnuts matted
dick with wild grapevines threw a
cavernous gloom over it
to pass this bridge was the severest
trial
it was at this identical spot
that the unfortunate andre was captured
and under the covert of these chestnuts
and vines were the sturdy yeoman
concealed who surprised him this has
ever been considered a haunted stream
and fearful are the feelings of the
schoolboy who has to pass it alone after
dark
as he approached the stream his heart
began to thump
he summoned up however all his
resolution gave his horse half a score
of kicks in the ribs and attempted to
dash briskly across the bridge
but instead of starting forward the
perverse old animal made a lateral
movement and ran broadside against the
fence
ichabod whose spears increased with the
delay jerked the reins on the other side
and kicked lustily with the contrary
foot
it was all in vain his steed started it
is true but it was only to plunge to the
opposite side of the road into a new
thicket of brambles and older bushes
the schoolmaster now bestowed both whip
and heel upon the quivering ribs of old
gunpowder who dashed forward snuffling
and snorting but came to a stand just by
the bridge with a suddenness
that had nearly sent his rider sprawling
over his head
just
at this moment
a plushy by the side of the bridge
caught the sensitive ear of ichabod
in the dark shadow of the grove on the
margin of the brook
he beheld something
huge
misshapen and towering
it stirred not but seemed gathered up by
the gloom like
some gigantic monster ready to spring
upon the traveler
the hair of the affrighted pedagogue
rose upon his head with terror what was
to be done to turn and fly was now too
late and
besides what chance was there of
escaping a ghost or a goblin if such it
was which could ride upon the wings of
the wind
summoning up there for a show of courage
he demanded in stammering accents
who who are you
he received no reply
he repeated his demand in a still more
agitated voice
still there was no answer
once more he cudgeled the sides of the
inflexible gunpowder and shutting his
eyes broke forth with involuntary fervor
into a psalm tune
just then the shadowy object of alarm
put itself in motion with a scramble and
a bounce stood at once in the middle of
the road
though the night was dark and dismal yet
the form of the unknown might now in
some degree be ascertained
he appeared to be a horseman of large
dimensions and mounted on a black horse
a powerful frame he made no offer of
molestation or sociability but came
aloof on one side of the road jogging
along on the blind side of old gunpowder
who had now got over his fright and
waywardness
ichabod who had no relish for this
strange midnight companion and before
himself of the adventure of brom bones
with the galloping hessian now quickened
his seed in hopes of leaving him behind
the stranger however quickened his horse
to an equal pace ichabod pulled up fell
into a walk thinking to lag behind but
the other did the same
his heart began to sink within him he
endeavored to resume his psalm to him
but his parched tongue clothed to the
roof of his mouth and he could not utter
a stave
there was something in the moody and
dogged silence of this pretentious
companion that was mysterious
and appalling
it was soon fearfully accounted for on
hunting a rising ground which brought
the figure of his fellow traveler in
relief against the sky gigantic in
height and muffled in a cloak
ichabod was horror struck on perceiving
that
he was headless
but his horror was still more increased
on observing that the head which should
have rested on his shoulders
was carried before him on the pommel of
his saddle
his terror rose to desperation he
reigned a shower of kicks and blows upon
gunpowder hoping by sudden movement to
give his companion the slip
but the specter started full jump with
him
away then they dashed through the thick
and thin stones flying sparks flashing
at every bound ichabod’s flimsy garments
fluttered in the air as he stretched his
long lank body away over his horse’s
head in the eagerness of his flight
they had now reached the road which
turns off to sleepy hollow
but gunpowder who seemed possessed with
a demon instead of keeping up it made an
opposite turn and plunged headlong
downhill to the left
this road leads to a sandy hollow shaded
by trees for about a quarter of a mile
where it crosses
the famous bridge of the goblin story
and just beyond swells the greed knoll
on which stands the whitewashed church
as yet the panic of the steed had given
his unskillful rider an apparent
advantage in the chase but just as he
had got halfway through the hollow the
girths of the saddle gave way and he
felt it slipping under him he seized it
by the pommel and endeavored to hold it
firm but in vain and he had just time to
save himself by clasping old gunpowder
round the neck when the saddle fell to
the earth and heard it trampled
underfoot by his pursuer for a moment
the terror of hansman rippers wrath
passed across his mind for it was his
sunday saddle but this was no time for
petty fears the goblin was hard on his
haunches and unskillful rider that he
was he had much to do to maintain his
seat sometimes sleeping on one side and
sometimes on another and sometimes
jolted on the high ridge of his horse’s
backbone the violence that he verily
feared would cleave him asunder an
opening in the trees now cheered him
with the hopes that the church bridge
was at hand the wavering reflection of a
silver star and the bosom of the brook
told him he was not mistaken he saw the
walls of the church dimly glaring under
the trees beyond he recollected the
place where brom bones ghostly
competitor has disappeared if i can but
reach that bridge thought ichabod i am
safe
just then he heard the black steed
panting and blowing close behind him and
even fancy that he felt its hot breath
another convulsive kick in the ribs an
old gunpowder sprang upon the bridge he
thundered over the resounding planks he
gained the opposite side and now ichabod
cast a look behind to see
if his pursuer should vanish according
to rule in a flash of fire and brimstone
just then
he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups
and in the very act of hurling his head
at him
ichabod endeavored to dodge the horrible
missile but too late it encountered his
cradium with a tremendous crash
he was tumbled headlong into the dust
and gunpowder the black steed and the
goblin rider all passed by like a
whirlwind
the next morning the old horse was found
without his saddle
and with the bridle under his feet
soberly cropping the grass at his
master’s gate
ichabod did not make his appearance at
breakfast
dinner hour came but no ichabod
the boys assembled at the schoolhouse
and strolled idly about the banks of the
brook but no
schoolmaster
hans von ripper began to feel some
uneasiness about the fate of poor
ichabod and his saddle
an inquiry was set afoot and after
diligent investigation they came upon
his traces
in one part of the road leading to the
church
he found the saddle trampled in the dirt
the tracks of horses hooves deeply
dented the road and evidently at furious
speed were traced to the bridge
beyond which
on the bank of a broad part of the brook
where the water ran deep and black was
found
the hat
of the unfortunate ichabod
and close beside it
a
shattered pumpkin
the brook was searched but the body of
the schoolmaster was not to be
discovered
hans von ripper as executor of his
estate examined the bundle which
contained all his worldly effects they
consisted of two shirts and a half two
socks for the neck a pair of two worsted
stockings an old pair of corduroy small
clothes a rusty razor a book of psalm
tunes full of dog ears and a broken
pitch pipe
as to the books and furniture of the
schoolhouse they belong to the community
accepting cotton mathers history of
witchcraft a new england almanac and a
book of dreams and fortune telling in
which last was a sheet the fool’s cap
much scribbled and blotted in several
fruitless attempts to make a copy of
verses in honor of the heiress of
antacil
these magic books and the poetic scroll
were forthwith consigned to the flames
by hans von ripper who from that time
forward determined to send his children
no more to school
observing that he never knew any good
game of that same reading and writing
whatever money the schoolmaster
possessed and he had received his
quarters pay but a day or two before
he must have had about his person at the
time of his disappearance
the mysterious event caused much
speculation at the church on the
following sunday
lots of gazers and gossips were
collected in the churchyard at the
bridge and at the spot where the hat and
pumpkin had been found
the stories of broar of bones and of a
whole budget of others were called to
mind and when they had diligently
considered them all and compared them
with the symptoms of the present case
they shook their heads and came to the
conclusion that ichabod had been carried
off by the galloping hessian
as he was a bachelor and in nobody’s
debt nobody troubled his head anymore
about him and the school was removed to
a different quarter of the hollow
and another pedagogue reigned in his
stead
it is true an old farmer who had been
down to new york on a visit several
years earlier and from whom this account
of the ghostly adventure was received
brought home the intelligence that
ichabod crane was still alive and that
had left the neighborhood partly through
fear of the goblin and hans van ripper
and partly in mortification that having
been suddenly dismissed by the heiress
that he had changed his quarters to a
distant part of the country and kept
school and studied law at the same time
had been admitted to the bar turned
politician electioneered written for the
newspapers and finally had been made a
justice of the ten pound court
brom bones too who shortly after his
rival’s disappearance conducted the
blooming katrina in triumph to the altar
was observed to look exceedingly knowing
whenever the story of ichabod was
related and always burst into a hearty
laugh at the mention of the pumpkin
which led some to suspect that he knew
more about the matter than he chose to
tell
the old country wives however who were
the best judges of these matters
maintain to this day that ichabod was
spirited away by supernatural means
and it is a favorite story often told
about the neighborhood round the winter
evening fire
the bridge became more than ever an
object of superstitious awe
and that may be the reason why the road
has been altered of late years so as to
approach the church by the border of the
millpond
the schoolhouse being deserted soon fell
to decay and was reported to be haunted
by the ghost of the unfortunate
pedagogue and the plow boy loitering
homeward of a still summer evening
has often fancied his voice at a
distance
chanting a melancholy psalm tune among
the tranquil solitudes
of sleepy hollow
and so ends the legend of sleepy hollow
by washington irving