THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY

HOLLOW
Washington Irving
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THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW

by Washington Irving

Found among the papers of the late Diedrech Knickerbocker.

A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;

And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,

Forever flushing round a summer sky.

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 St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small

market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh,

but which is more generally and properly known by the name of

Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told, in former days, by

the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate

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 to

repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a

woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the

uniform tranquillity.

I recollect that, when a stripling, 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 noontime, 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 whither 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 glen 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 Hendrick Hudson. Certain it is, 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

oftener 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 gambols.

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 a 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 cannon-ball, in some

nameless battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is ever and

anon 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

those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating

the floating facts concerning this spectre, 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 spectre 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 every one 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, and see apparitions.

I mention this peaceful spot with all possible laud 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

mimic 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 this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period

of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a

worthy wight 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 snipe nose, so that it

looked like a weather-cock perched upon 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 copybooks. It was most ingeniously

secured at vacant hours, by a *withe 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, Yost Van Houten, from the mystery of an eelpot.

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, conning over their lessons,

might be heard in a drowsy summer's day, like the hum of a

beehive; interrupted now and then by the authoritative voice of

the master, in the tone of menace or command, or, peradventure,

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 Crane's 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 stripling, 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 never inflicted

a chastisement without following it by the assurance, so

consolatory 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 the 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 daily

bread, for he was a huge feeder, and, though lank, 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 successively 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 considered 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 whilom so magnanimously the lamb did hold,

he would sit with a child on one knee, and rock a cradle with

his foot for whole 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 psalmody. 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 peculiar quavers still to be heard in

that church, and which may even be heard half a mile off, quite

to the opposite side of the mill-pond, on a still Sunday morning,

which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of

Ichabod Crane. Thus, by divers little makeshifts, 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 schoolmaster is generally a man of some importance in

the female circle of a rural neighborhood; being considered a

kind of idle, gentlemanlike 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 supernumerary dish of cakes

or sweetmeats, or, peradventure, 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 from the wild vines that overran the surrounding trees;

reciting for their amusement all the epitaphs on the tombstones;

or sauntering, with a whole bevy of them, along the banks of the

adjacent mill-pond; 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 a 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 small 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 spell-bound region. No tale

was too gross or monstrous for his capacious 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 school-house, and there

con over old Mather's direful 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 his excited

imagination, --the moan of the whip-poor-will from the hillside,

the boding cry of the tree toad, that harbinger of storm, the

dreary hooting of the screech owl, to the sudden rustling in the

thicket of birds frightened from their roost. The fireflies, too,

which sparkled most vividly in the darkest places, 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 varlet 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 listen to their marvellous 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 portentous 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 round, and that they were half the

time topsy-turvy!

But if there was a pleasure in all this, while snugly

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

spectre dared to show its face, it was dearly purchased by the

terrors of his subsequent walk homewards. What fearful shapes and

shadows beset his path, amidst the dim and ghastly glare of a
snowy night! With what wistful look did he eye every trembling

ray of light streaming across the waste fields from some distant

window! How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with

snow, which, like a sheeted spectre, 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 on 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

spectres in his time, and 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 despite 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 witches put

together, and that was--a woman.

Among the musical disciples who assembled, one evening in

each week, to receive his instructions in psalmody, was Katrina

Van Tassel, the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch

farmer. She was a booming lass of fresh eighteen; 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 withal 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 of

her charms. She wore the ornaments of pure yellow gold, which her

great-great-grandmother had brought over from Saar dam; the

tempting stomacher of the olden time, and withal a provokingly

short petticoat, to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the

country round.

Ichahod Crane had a soft and foolish heart towards the sex;

and it is not to be wondered at, that so tempting a morsel soon

found favor in his eyes, more especially after he had visited her

in her paternal mansion. Old Baltus Van Tassel 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 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 along among 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 to night; swallows and martins

skimmed twittering about the eaves; an 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 whence sallied

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 farmyard, and Guinea fowls

fretting about it, like ill-tempered housewives, with their

peevish, discontented cry. Before the barn door strutted the

gallant cock, 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 fare. 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 snugly 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 cosily 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 trussed up,

with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a 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 meadow lands, 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. Nay, his busy fancy already realized his hopes, and

presented to him the blooming Katrina, with a whole family of

children, mounted on the top of a wagon loaded with household

trumpery, with pots and kettles dangling beneath; and he beheld

himself bestriding 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 centre of the mansion, and the place of usual residence. Here

rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on a long dresser, dazzled his

eyes. In one corner stood a huge bag of wool, ready to be spun;

in another, a quantity of linsey-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 gaud of red
peppers; and a door left ajar gave him a peep into the best

parlor, where the claw-footed chairs and dark mahogany tables

shone like mirrors; andirons, 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 birds eggs were suspended above it; a great

ostrich egg was hung from the centre 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 which he achieved as easily as a man

would carve his way to the centre 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 the 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, Brom Van Brunt, the hero of the country round

which rang with his feats of strength and hardihood. 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 of BROM 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 cock fights; and, with the ascendancy

which bodily strength always acquires in rustic life, was the

umpire in all disputes, setting his hat on one side, and giving

his decisions with an air and tone that admitted of 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 boon companions, who

regarded him as their model, and at the head of whom he scoured

the country, attending every scene of feud or merriment for

miles round. 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 descried this well-known crest at a distance,

whisking about among a squad of hard riders, they always stood by

for a squall. Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along

past the farmhouses at midnight, with whoop and halloo, 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 exclaim, "Ay, there goes Brom Bones

and his gang!" The neighbors looked upon him with a mixture

of awe, admiration, and good-will; and, when any madcap prank

or rustic brawl occurred in the vicinity, always shook their

heads, and warranted Brom Bones was at the bottom of it.

This rantipole 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 ofa 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 amours; insomuch, 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 into other quarters.

Such was the formidable rival with whom Ichabod Crane had to

contend, and, considering, all things, a stouter man 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 as 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 amours,

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 even 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 one end of the piazza, honest Balt

would sit smoking his evening pipe at the other, watching the

achievements of a little wooden warrior, who, armed with a sword

in each hand, was most valiantly fighting the wind on the

pinnacle of the barn. In the mean time, 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 won.

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 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 Sunday nights, and a deadly feud gradually

arose between him and the preceptor of Sleepy Hollow.

Brom, who had a degree of rough chivalry in his nature,

would fain 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 lchabod 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 Brom 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

harried his hitherto peaceful domains, smoked out his singing-

school by stopping up the chimney, broke into the schoolhouse at

night, in spite of its formidable fastenings of withe and 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, Brom took

all Opportunities of turning him into ridicule in presence of his

mistress, and had a scoundrel dog whom he taught to whine in the

most ludicrous manner, and introduced as a rival of Ichabod's, to

instruct her in psalmody.

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 ferule, that sceptre of despotic power; the birch of

justice reposed on three nails behind the throne, a constant

terror to evil doers, while on the desk before him might be seen

sundry contraband articles and prohibited weapons, detected upon

the persons of idle urchins, such as half-munched apples,

popguns, whirligigs, fly-cages, and whole legions of rampant

little paper game-cocks. 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 one eye kept upon the master; and a kind of buzzing

stillness reigned throughout the schoolroom. It was suddenly

interrupted by the appearance of a negro in tow-cloth jacket and

trowsers. a round-crowned fragment of a hat, like the cap of

Mercury, and mounted on the back of a ragged, wild, half-broken

colt, which he managed with a rope by way of halter. He came

clattering up to the school-door with an invitation to Ichabod to

attend a merry - making or "quilting-frolic," to be held that

evening at Mynheer Van Tassel's; 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 schoolroom.

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, inkstands were overturned, benches 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 gallant Ichabod now spent at least an extra half hour at

his toilet, brushing and furbishing 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

domiciliated, a choleric old Dutchman of the name of Hans Van

Ripper, and, thus gallantly mounted, issued forth like a knight-

errant in quest of adventures. But it is meet 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 ewe neck, and a

head like a hammer; his rusty mane and tail were tangled and

knotted with burs; 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 mettle in his day, if we may

judge from the name he bore of Gunpowder. He had, in fact, been a

favorite steed of his master's, 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

filly 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 the saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like

grasshoppers'; he carried his whip perpendicularly in his hand,

like a sceptre, 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 on 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 horses tail. Such was the appearance

of Ichabod and his steed as they shambled out of the gate of Hans

Van 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

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 dyes

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 tree, capricious from

the very profusion and variety around them. There was the honest

cockrobin, the favorite game of stripling sportsmen, with its

loud querulous 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 tipt wings and yellow-tipt tail and its

little monteiro cap of feathers; and the blue jay, that noisy

coxcomb, 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 open 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 for 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 coverts, 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 anticipations stole over his mind of dainty

slap-jacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle,

by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina 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 Tappan Zee lay motionless and glassy,

excepting that here and there a gentle undulation waved and

prolonged the blue shallow of 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 gray 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 the air.

It was toward evening that Ichabod arrived at the castle of

the Heer Van Tassel, which he found thronged with the pride and

flower of the adjacent country Old farmers, a spare leathern-

faced race, in homespun coats and breeches, blue stockings, huge

shoes, and magnificent pewter buckles. Their brisk, withered

little dames, in close crimped caps, long waisted short-gowns,

homespun petticoats, with scissors and pin-cushions, and gay

calico pockets hanging on the outside. Buxom lasses, almost as

antiquated as their mothers, excepting where a straw hat, a fine

ribbon, or perhaps a white frock, gave symptoms of city

innovation. The sons, in short square-skirted coats, with rows of

stupendous brass buttons, and their hair generally queued in the

fashion of the times, especially if they could procure an eelskin

for the purpose, it being esteemed throughout the country as a

potent nourisher and strengthener of the hair.

Brom Bones, however, was the hero of the scene, having come

to the gathering on his favorite steed Daredevil, a creature,

like himself, full of mettle 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 constant risk of his neck, for he held a tractable,

wellbroken horse as unworthy of a lad of spirit.

Fain 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 doughnut, the tender

olykoek, and the crisp and crumbling cruller; sweet cakes and

short cakes, ginger cakes and honey cakes, and the whole family

of cakes. And then there were apple pies, and peach pies, and

pumpkin pies; 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-

pigglely, pretty much as I have enumerated them, with the

motherly teapot sending up its clouds of vapor from the midst--

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 could

not help, too, rolling his large eyes round 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

schoolhouse; snap his fingers in the face of Hans Van Ripper, and

every other niggardly patron, and kick any itinerant pedagogue

out of doors that should dare to call him comrade!

Old Baltus Van Tassel moved about among his guests with a

face dilated with content and goodhumor, 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, a loud 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 been the itinerant orchestra of the neighborhood

for more than half a century. His instrument was as 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 the 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 a limb, not a fibre about him was idle; and to

have seen his loosely hung frame in full motion, and clattering

about the room, you would have thought St. 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

eye-balls, 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 oglings; while

Brom Bones, sorely smitten with love and jealousy, sat brooding

by himself in one corner.

When the dance was at an end, Ichabod was attracted to a

knot of the sager folks, who, with Old V an Tassel, sat smoking

at one end of the piazza, gossiping over former times, and

drawing out long stories about the war.

This neighborhood, at 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; it had, therefore], been the scene of marauding and infested

with refugees, cow-boys, and all kinds of border chivalry. Just

sufficient time had elapsed to enable each story-teller 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 Doffue Martling, a large blue-bearded

Dutchman, who had nearly taken a British frigate with an old iron

nine-pounder from a mud breastwork, only that his gun burst at

the sixth discharge. And there was an old gentleman who shall be

nameless, being too rich a mynheer to be lightly mentioned, who,

in the battle of White Plains, being an excellent master of

defence, parried a musket-ball with a small-sword, insomuch that

he absolutely felt it whiz round the blade, and glance off at 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 the field, not one of whom but was
persuaded that he had a considerable hand in bringing the war to

a happy termination.

But all these were nothing to the tales of ghosts and

apparitions that succeeded. The neighborhood is rich in legendary

treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions thrive best

in these sheltered, long settled retreats; but are trampled under

foot by the shifting throng that forms the population of most of

our country places. Besides, there is no encouragement for ghosts

in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to

finish their first nap and turn themselves in their graves,

before their surviving friends have travelled 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 in 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 Tassel's, 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 made also of the woman 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 upon the

favorite spectre 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 dell, along which raves a large brook

among broken rocks and trunks of fallen 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 Brouwer, a most heretical disbeliever in

ghosts, how he met the Horseman returning from his foray into

Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to get up behind him; how they

galloped over bush and brake, over hill and swamp, until they

reached the bridge; when the Horseman suddenly turned into a

skeleton, threw old Brouwer into the brook, and sprang away over

the tree-tops with a clap of thunder.

This story was immediately matched by a thrice marvellous

adventure of Brom Bones, who made light of the Galloping Hessian

as an arrant jockey. He affirmed that on returning one night from

the neighboring village of Sing Sing, he had been overtaken by

this midnight trooper; that he had offered to race with him for a

bowl of punch, and should have won it too, for Daredevil beat the

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 Mather, and added

many marvellous 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 revel 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 hoofs, echoed along the 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 have a tete-a-tete 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

air 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 a mere sham to

secure her conquest of his rival? Heaven only knows, not I!

Let it suffice to say, Ichabod stole forth with the air of

one who had been sacking a henroost, rather than a fair lady's
heart. Without looking to the right or left 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 corn

and oats, and whole valleys of timothy and clover.

It was the very witching time of night that Ichabod, heavy

hearted and crest-fallen, pursued his travels homewards, along

the sides of the lofty hills which rise above Tarry Town, and

which he had traversed so cheerily in the afternoon. The hour was

as dismal as himself. Far below him the Tappan Zee spread its

dusky and indistinct waste of waters, with here and there the

tall mast of a sloop, 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 only to give an idea of his distance from this

faithful companion of man. Now and then, too, the long-drawn

crowing of a cock, accidentally awakened, would sound far, far

off, from some farmhouse away among the hills--but it was like a

dreaming sound in his ear. No signs of life occurred near him,

but occasionally the melancholy chirp of a cricket, or perhaps

the guttural twang of a bull-frog from a 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 centre 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 doleful lamentations, told concerning it.

As Ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to

whistle; he thought his whistle was answered; 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 tree: he paused, and ceased whistling but, on

looking more narrowly, perceived that it was a place where the

tree had been scathed by lightning, and the white wood laid bare.

Suddenly he heard a groan--his teeth chattered, and his knees

smote against the saddle: it was but the rubbing of one huge

bough upon another, as they were swayed about by the breeze. He

passed the tree in safety, but new perils lay before him.

About two 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 thick with wild grape-vines, 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 those chestnuts and vines were the sturdy yeomen

concealed who surprised him. This has ever since been considered

a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the school-boy

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 fears 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

thicket of brambles and alder-bushes. The schoolmaster now

bestowed both whip and heel upon the starveling 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

plashy tramp 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 in the gloom, like some

gigantic monster ready to spring upon the traveller.

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 ghost or goblin,

if such it was, which could ride upon the wings of the wind?

Summoning up, therefore, a show of courage, he demanded in

stammering accents, " 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 cudgelled 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, and with a scramble and a bound 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 of powerful frame. He made no offer

of molestation or sociability, but kept 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 bethought himself of the adventure of Brom Bones

with the Galloping Hessian, now quickened his steed in hopes of

leaving him behind. The stranger, however, quickened his horse to

an equal pace. Ichabod pulled up, and fell into a walk, thinking

to lag behind, --the other did the same. His heart began to sink

within him; he endeavored to resume his psalm tune, but his

parched tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and he could not

utter a stave. There was something in the moody and dogged

silence of this pertinacious companion that was mysterious and

appalling. It was soon fearfully accounted for. On mounting a

rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow-traveller

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 rained a shower of kicks and blows upon

Gunpowder, hoping by a sudden movement to give his companion the

slip; but the spectre started full jump with him. Away, then,

they dashed through thick and thin; stones flying and 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

down hill to the left. This road leads through a sandy hollow

shaded by trees for about a quarter of a mile, where it crosses

the bridge famous in goblin story; and just beyond swells the

green knoll on which stands the whitewashed church.

As yet the panic of the steed had given his unskilful rider

an apparent advantage in the chase, but just as he had got half

way through the hollow, the girths of the saddle gave way, and he

felt it slipping from under him. He seized it by the pommel, and

endeavored to hold it firm, but in vain; and had just time to

save himself by clasping old Gunpowder round the neck, when the

saddle fell to the earth, and he heard it trampled under foot by

his pursuer. For a moment the terror of Hans Van Ripper's 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 (unskilful rider that he was!) he had much ado to maintain

his seat; sometimes slipping on one side, sometimes on another,

and sometimes jolted on the high ridge of his horse's backbone,

with a 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 in the bosom of the brook told him that 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 had disappeard. "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; he even fancied that he

felt his hot breath. Another convulsive kick in the ribs, and 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 cranium with a tremendous

crash, --he was tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder,

the black steed, and the goblin rider, 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 Van Ripper now began to feel

some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabod, and his saddle.

An inquiry was set on foot, and after diligent investigation they

came upon his traces. In one part of the road leading to the

church was found the saddle trampled in the dirt; the tracks of

horses' hoofs deeply dented in the road, and evidently at furious

speed, were traced to the bridge, beyond which, on the bank of a

broad part o£ 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 Van Ripper as executor of his estate,

examined the bundle which contained all his worldly effects. They

consisted of two shirts and a half; two stocks for the neck; a

pair or two of worsted stockings; an old pair of corduroy small-

clothes; a rusty razor; a book of psalm tunes full of dog's-ears;

and a broken pitch-pipe. As to the books and furniture of the

schoolhouse, they belonged to the community, excepting Cotton

Mather's History of Witchcraft, a New England Almanac, and

book of dreams and fortune-telling; in which last was a sheet of

foolscap much scribbled and blotted in several fruitless attempts

to make a copy of verses in honor of the heiress of Van Tassel.

These magic books and the poetic scrawl were forthwith consigned

to the flames by Hans Van Ripper; who, from that time forward,

determined to send his children no more to school; observing that

he never knew any good come of this same reading and writing.

Whatever money the schoolmaster possessed, and he had received

his quarter's 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. Knots 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 Brouwer, of

Bones, and 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 chat Ichabod had been carried off by the

Galloping Hessian. As he was a bachelor, and in nobody's debt,

nobody troubled his head any more about him; 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 after, and from whom this account of the

ghostly adventure was received, brought home the intelligence

that Ichabod Crane was still alive; that he had left the

neighborhood partly through fear of the goblin and Hans Van

Ripper, and partly in mortification at having been suddenly

dismissed by the heiress; that he had changed his quarters to a

distant part of the country; had 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 are 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 mill-pond. The

schoolhouse being deserted soon fell to decay, and was reported

to be haunted by the ghost of the unfortunate pedagogue and

the plough-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.