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Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving · Adventure Books Library

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The legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, found among the papers of the
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late Dietrich Knickerbocker. A pleasing land of drowsy head. It was of dreams
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that wave before the half shot eye, and of gay castles in the clouds
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that pass forever flushing round a summer sky from castle of indolence in the bosom
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of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson.
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At that broad expansion of the river, denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the
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Tapanzee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of Saint
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Nicholas when they crossed. There lies a small market town or rural port,
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which by some is called Greensbury, but which is more generally and properly known
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by the name of Tarrytown. This name was given, we are told,
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in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the
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inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days.
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Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but
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merely advert to it for the sake of being precise and authentic. Not far
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from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley,
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or rather lap of land among high hills, which is one of the quietest
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places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it with just murmur
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enough to lull one into repose, and the occasional whistle of a quail or
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tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the
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uniform tranquility. I recollect that when a stripling, my first exploit in squirrel
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shooting, was in a grove of tall walnut trees that shades one side of
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the valley. I had wandered into it at noontime, when all nature is
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peculiarly quiet, and was startled by the roar of my own gun as it
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broke the sabbath stillness around, and was prolonged and reverberated by the angry echoes.
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If ever I should wish for a retreat, whither I might steal from
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the world in its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled
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life, I know of none more promising than this little valley. From the
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listless repose of the place and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are
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descendants from the original Dutch settlers. This sequestered glen has long been known by
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the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow
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Boys. Throughout all the neighbouring country, a drowsy, dreamy influence seems to
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hang over the land and to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the
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place was bewitched by a high German doctor during the early days of the settlement.
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Others that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe,
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held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Henrik Hudson.
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Certain it is that the place still continues under the sway of some witching power
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that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to
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walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous beliefs,
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are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights and hear
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music and voices in the air. The whole neighbourhood abounds with local tales,
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haunted spots and twilight superstitions. Stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley
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than in any other part of the country, and the Nightmare, with her
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whole nine fold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols.
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The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to
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be commander in chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition
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of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said by some to
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be the ghost of a Hessian trooper whose head had been carried away by a
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cannonball in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is ever and
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anon seen by the country folk hurrying along in the gloom of night, as
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if on the wings of the wind. His haunts are not confined to the
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valley, but extend at times to the adjacent roads, and especially to the
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vicinity of a church at no great distance. Indeed, Sir of the most
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authentic historians of these parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the
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floating facts concerning this specter, alleged that the body of the trooper, having
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been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle
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in knightly quest of his head, and that the rushing speed with which he
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sometimes passes along the hollow like a midnight blast, is owing to his being
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belated and in a hurry to get back to the churchyard before daybreak. Such
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is the general purport of this legendary superstition, which has furnished materials for many
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a wild story in that region of shadows, and the specter is known at
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all the country firesides by the name of the headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.
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It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have mentioned is not confine to the
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native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by everyone who resides there
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for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that
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sleepy region, they are sure in a little time to inhale the witching influence
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of the air and begin to grow imaginative, to dream dreams, to see
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apparitions. I mention this peaceful spot with all possible lawd for it is in
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such little retired Dutch valleys found here and there embosomed in the great state of
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New York, that population, manners, and customs remain fixed. While the
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great Torrent of migration and improvement, which is making such incessant changes in other
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parts of this restless country, sweeps by them unobserved. They are like those
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little nooks of still water which border a rapid stream, where we may see
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the straw and bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly revolving in their mimic
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harbor, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current. Though many years have
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elapsed since I trod the drowsy shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether
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I should not still find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its
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sheltered bosom. In this by place of nature. There abode in a remote
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period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since,
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a worthy white of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or as
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he expressed it, tarried in Sleepy Hollow for the purpose of instructing the children
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of the vicinity. He was a native of Connecticut, a state which supplies
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the Union with pioneers for the mind as well as for the forest, and
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since forth yearly its life legions of frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen
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of crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly
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lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a
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mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and
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his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small and flat at
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top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe
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nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched atop his spindle neck to
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tell which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of
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a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him,
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one might have mistaken him for the genius of famine descending upon the earth,
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or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield. His schoolhouse was a low building
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of one large room, rudely constructed of logs, the windows partly glazed and
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partly patched with leaves of old copy books. It was most ingeniously secured at
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vacant hours by a wife twisted in the handle of the door, and stakes
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set against the window shutters, so that though a thief might get in with
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perfect ease, he would find some embarrassment in getting out, an idea most
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probably borrowed by the architect Yost van Houtten from the mystery of an eel pot.
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The school house stood in a rather lonely but pleasant situation, just at
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the foot of a woody hill, with a brook running close by, and
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a formidable birch tree growing at one end of it. From hence, the
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low murmur of his pupil's voices conning over their lessons might be heard on a
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drowsy summer's day, like the hum of a beehive, interrupted now and then
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by the authoritative voice of the master in the tone of menace or command or
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peradventure, by the appalling sound of the birch as he urged some tardy loiterer
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along the flowery path of knowledge. Truth to say, he was a conscientious
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man, and ever bore in mind the golden maxim spare the rod and spoil
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the child. Ichabod Crane's scholars certainly were not spoiled. I would not have
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it imagined, however, that he was one of those cruel potentates of the
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school who joy in the smart of their subjects. On the contrary, he
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administered justice with discrimination rather than severity, taking the burden off the backs of
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the week and laying it on those of the strong. Your mere puny stripling
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that winced at the least flourish of the rod was passed by with indulgence,
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but the claims of justice were satisfied by inflicting a double portion on some little,
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tough, wrong headed, broad skirted Dutch urchin who sulked and swelled and
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grew dogged sullen beneath the birch. All this he called doing his duty by
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their parents. And he never inflicted a chastisement without following it by the assurance
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so consolatory to the smarting urchin that he would remember it and thank him for
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it. The longest day he had to live. When school hours were over,
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he was even the companion and playmate of the larger boys, and on
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holiday afternoons would convoy some of the smaller ones home, who happened to have
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pretty sisters or good housewives for mothers, noted for the comforts of their cupboard.
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Indeed, it behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils.
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The revenue arising from his school was small and would have been scarcely sufficient to
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furnish him with daily bread, for he was a huge feeder, and though
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lank, he had the dilating powers of an anaconda. But to help out
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his maintenance he was, according to country custom in those parts, boarded and
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lodged at the houses of the farmers, whose children he instructed. With these
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he lived successively a week at a time, thus going the rounds of the
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neighborhood, with all his worldly effects tied up in a cotton handkerchief, that
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all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons,
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who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden, and schoolmasters
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as mere drones. He had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable.
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He assisted the farmers occasionally in the lighter labours of their farms, helped
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to make hay, mended the fences, took the horses to water, drove
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the cows from pasture, and cut wood for the winter fire. He laid
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aside, too, all the dominant dignity and absolute sway with which he lorded
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it in his little empire the school, and became wonderfully gentle and ingratiating.
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He found favour in the eyes of the mothers by petting the children, particularly
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the youngest, And like the lion bold which will whom so magnanimously the lamb
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did hold, he would sit with a child upon one knee and rock a
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cradle with his foot for hours together. In addition to his other vocations,
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he was the singing master of the neighborhood, and picked up many bright shillings
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by instructing the young folks in psalmody. It was a matter of no little
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vanity to him on Sundays to take his station in front of the church gallery
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with a band of chosen singers, where in his own mind he completely carried
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away the palm from the parson. Certain it is his voice resounded far above
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all the rest of the congregation, And there are particular quavers still to be
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heard in that church, and which may even be heard half mile off,
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quite to the opposite side of the mill pond on a still Sunday morning,
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which which are said to be legitimately descended from the nose of Ichabod Crane.
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Thus by divers little makeshifts, and in that ingenious way which is commonly denominated
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by hook and by crook. The worthy pedagogue got on tolerably enough, and
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was thought by all who understood nothing of the labour of headwork, to have
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a wonderfully easy life of it. The schoolmaster is generally a man of some
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importance in the female circle of a rural neighborhood, being considered a kind of
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idle gentlemanly personage, of vastly superior taste and accomplishments to the rough country swains,
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and indeed inferior in learning only to the parson. His appearance, therefore
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is apt to occasion some little stir at the tea table of a farmhouse,
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and the addition of a supernumerate dish of cakes or sweetmeats, or peradventure the
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parade of a silver teapot. Our man of letters therefore was peculiarly happy in
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the smiles of all the country damsels. How he would figure among them in
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the churchyard between services on Sundays, gathering grapes for them in the wild vines
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that overran the surrounding trees, reciting for their amusement all the epitaphs on the
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tombstones, or sauntering with the whole bevy of them along the banks of the
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adjacent mill pond, while the more bashful country bumpkins hung sheepishly back, envying
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his superior elegance and address from his half itinerant life. Also, he was
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a kind of traveling gazette, carrying the whole budget of local gossip from house
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to house, so that his appearance was always greeted with satisfaction. He was
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moreover esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had
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read several books quite through, and was the perfect master of Cotton Mather's History
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of New England Witchcraft, in which, by the way, he most firmly
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and potently believed, he was in fact an odd mixture of shrewdness and simple
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credulity. His appetite for the marvelous and his powers of digesting it were equally
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extraordinary, and both had been increased by his residence in this spellbound region.
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No tale was too gross or monstrous for this capricious swallow. It was often
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his delight, after his school was dismissed in the afternoon, to stretch himself
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on the rich bed of clover bordering the little brook that whimpered by his schoolhouse,
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and there caln over Old Mather's direful tales until the gathering dusk of evening
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made the printed page a mere mist before his eyes. Then, as he
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wended his way by swamp and stream and awful woodland to the farm house where
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he happened to be quartered, every sound of nature at that witching hour fluttered
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and excited imagination. The moan of the whipper will from the hillside, the
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boding cry of the tree toad that harbinger of storm, the dreary hooting of
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the screech owl, or the sudden rustling in the thicket of birds frightened from
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their roost. The fireflies, too, which sparkled most vividly in the darkest
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place now and then startled him as one of uncommon brightness would stream across his
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path. And if by chance a huge blockhead of a beetle came winging his
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blundering flight against him, the poor varlet was ready to give up the ghosts
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with the idea that he was struck with the witch's token. His only resource
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on such occasions, either to drown thought or drive away evil spirits, was
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to sing psalm tunes, and the good people of Sleepy Hollow as they sat
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by their doors of an evening were often filled with awe at hearing his nasal
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melody in linked sweetness, long drawn out, floating from the distant hill or
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along the dusky road. Another of his sources of fearful pleasure was to pass
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long winter evenings with the old Dutch wives as they sat spinning by the fire
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with a row of apples roasting and spluttering along the hearth, and to listen
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to their marvelous tales of ghosts and goblins, and haunted fields and haunted brooks,
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and haunted bridges and haunted houses, and particularly of the headless horsemen,
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or galloping Hessian of the Hollow, as they sometimes called him. He would
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delight them equally by his anecdotes of witchcraft and of the direful omens and portentous
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sights and sounds in the air which prove in the earlier times of Connecticut,
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and would frighten them woefully with speculations upon comets and shooting stars, and with
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the alarming fact that the world did absolutely turn around, and that they were
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half the time tops a turvy. But if there were a pleasure in all
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this, while snuggling, cuddling in the chimney corner of a chamber that was
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all of a ruddy glow from the crackling wood fire, and where of course
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no specter dared to show its face. It was dearly purchased by the terrors
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of his subsequent walk homeward. What fearful shapes and shadows beset this path amid
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the dim and ghastly glare of a snowy night? With What wistful look did
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he eye every trembling ray of light streaming across the waste fields from some distant
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window. How often was he appalled by some shrub covered with snow, which,
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like a sheeted specter beset his very path. How often did he shrink
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with curdling awe at the sound of his own steps on the frosty crust beneath
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his feet, and dread to look over his shoulder lest he should behold some
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uncouth being tramping close behind him. And how often was he thrown into complete
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dismay by some rushing blast howling among the trees, in the idea that it
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was the galloping Hessian of one of his nightly scourlings. All these, however,
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were mere terrors of the night phantoms of the mind that walk in darkness.
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And though he had seen many specters in his time, and had been
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more than once beset by Satan in divers shapes in his lonely perambulations, yet
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daylight put an end to all these evils, And he would have passed a
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pleasant life of it in spite of the devil and all his works, if
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his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to mortal
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man than ghosts, goblins, and the whole race of witches put together.
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And that was a woman among the musical disciples who assembled one evening each week
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to receive his instructions in Psalmody. Was Katrina van Tassel, the daughter and
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only child of a substantial Dutch farmer. She was a blooming glass of fresh
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eighteen, plump as a partridge, ripe and melting, and rosy cheeked as
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one of her father's speeches, and universally famed not merely for her beauty but
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her vast expectations. She was withal a little of a coquette, as might
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be perceived, even in her dress, which was a mixture of ancient and
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modern fashions, as most suited to set off her charms. She wore the
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ornaments so pure yellow gold, which her great great grandmother had brought over from
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Sardom, the tempting stomacher of the olden time, and withal a provokingly short
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petticoat to display the prettiest foot and ankle in the country round Ichabod Crane had
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a soft and foolish heart towards the sex, and it is not to be
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wondered that so tempting a morsel soon found favor in his eyes, more especially
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after he had visited her in her paternal mansion. Old Baltus van Tossel was
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a perfect picture of a thriving, contented, liberal hearted farmer. He seldom,
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it is true, sent either his eyes or his thoughts beyond the boundaries
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of his own farm, but within those everything was snug, happy and well
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conditioned. He was satisfied with his wealth, but not proud of it,
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and piqued himself upon the hearty abundance rather than the style in which he lived.
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His stronghold was situated on the banks of the Hudson, in one of
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those green, sheltered, fertile nooks in which the Dutch farmers are so fond
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of nestling. A great elm tree had spread its broad branches over it,
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at the foot of which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water
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in a little well formed of a barrel, and then stole, sparkling away
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through the grass to a neighboring brook that babbled among the alders and dwarf willows.
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Hard By the farmhouse was a vast barn that might have served for a
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church, every window and crevice of which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of
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the farm. The flail was busily resounding within it. From morning till night.
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Swallows and martins skimmed, twittering about the eaves and rose of pigeons,
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some with one eye turned up as if watching the weather, some with their
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heads under their wings or buried in their bosoms, and others swelling and cooing
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and bowing about their dames were enjoying the sunshine. On the roof. Sleek,
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unwieldy porkers were grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens, from
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which sallied forth now and then troops of sucking pigs as if to snuff the
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air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were riding in an adjoining pond,
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convoying whole. Fleets of ducks, regiments of turkeys were gobbling through the farm
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yard, and guinea fowls fretting about it like ill tempered housewives with their peevish,
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discontented cry. Before the barn door, strutted the gallant cock that pattern
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of a husband, a warrior, and a fine gentleman, clapping his burnished
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wings and crowing in the pride and gladness of his heart, tearing up the
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earth with his feet, and then generously calling his ever hungry family of wives
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and children to enjoy the rich morsel which he had discovered. The pedagogue's mouth
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watered as he looked upon this sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his
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devouring mind's eye, he pictured to himself every roasting pig running about with a
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pudding in his belly and an apple in his mouth. The pigeons were slugly
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put to bed in a comfortable pie and tucked in with a coverlet of crust.
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The geese were swimming in their own gravy, and the ducks pearing cozily
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in dishes like snug married couples with a decent competency of onion sauce. In
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the porkers he saw carved out the future sleek side of bacon and juicy relishing
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ham not a turkey, but he beheld daintily trussed up, with its gizzard
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under its wing, and peradventure and necklace of savory sausages, and even bright
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chanticlear himself lay sprawling on his back in a side dish, with uplifted claws,
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as if craving that quarter which his chivalrous spirit disdained to ask while living.
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As the enraptured Ichabod fancied all this, And as he rolled his great
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green eyes over the fat meadow lands, the rich fields of wheat of wrthe
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buckwheat and Indian corn, and the orchards burdened with ruddy fruit which surrounded the
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warm tenement of Van Tassel, his heart yearned after the damsel who was to
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inherit these domains, and his imagination expanded with the idea how they might be
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readily turned into cash, and the money invested in immense tracts of wild land
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and shingle palaces in the wilderness. Nay, his busy Fancy already realized his
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hopes, and presented to him the blooming Katrina with a whole family of children
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mounted on top of the wagon, loaded with household trumpery, with pots and
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kettles dangling beneath, and he beheld himself astride a pacing mare with a colt
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at her heels, setting out for Kentucky, Tennessee, or the Lord knows
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where. When he entered the house, the conquest of his heart was complete.
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It was one of those spacious farmhouses with high ridged but lowly sloping roofs
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built in the style handed down from the first Dutch settlers, the low projecting
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ebs forming a piazza along the front, capable of being closed up in bad
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weather. Under this were hung flails, harness, various utensils of husbandry,
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and nets for fishing in the neighboring river. Benches were bid built along the
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sides for summer use, and a great spinning wheel at one end and a
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churn at the other showed the various uses to which this important porch might be
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devoted. From this piazza, the wondering Ichabod entered the hall, which formed
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the center of the mansion and the place of usual residence. Here, rows
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of wrisplendent pewter ranged on a long dresser dazzled his eyes. In one corner
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hung a huge bag of wool ready to be spun. In another, a
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quantity of linsey wolsey just from the loom. Ears of Indian corn, and
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strings of dried apples and peaches hung in gay. The stoons along the walls
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mingled with the gaud of red peppers, and a door left Ajar gave him
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a peep into the best parlor, where the claw footed chairs and dark mahogany
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tables shone like mirrors, and irons with their accompanying shovel and tongs glistened from
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their covert of asparagus tops, mock oranges, and cunk shells decorated the mantelpiece.
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Strings of various colored bird eggs were suspended above it. A great ostrich
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egg was hung from the center of the room, and a corner cupboard knowingly
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left open, displayed immense treasures of old silver and well mended china. From
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the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these regions of delight, the peace of
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his mind was at an end. And his only study was how to gain
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the affections of the peerless daughter of van Tassel. In this enterprise, however,
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he had more real difficulties than generally fell to the lot of a knight
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errant of yore, who seldom had anything but giants and chanters, fiery dragons
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and such like, easily conquered adversaries to contend with, and had to make
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his way merely through gates of iron and brass and walls of adamant to the
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castle keep where the lady of his heart was confined, all of which he
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achieved as easily as a man would carve his way to the center of a
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Christmas pie, and then the lady gave him her hand. As a matter
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of course, Ikabad, on the contrary, had to win his way to
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the heart of a country Coquette beset with a labyrinth of wilms and caprices,
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which were forever presenting new difficulties and impediments, and he had to encounter a
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host of fearful adversaries of real flesh and blood, the numerous rustic admirers who
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beset every portal to her heart, keeping a watchful and angry eye upon each
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other. But ready to fly out in common cause against any new competitor.
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Among these, the most formidable was a burly, roaring, roistering blade of
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the name of Abraham, or according to the Dutch abbreviation Brahm van Brunt,
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the hero of the country round, which ranged with his feats of strength and
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hardihood. He was broad shouldered and double jointed, with short, curly black
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hair and a bluff but not unpleasant countenance. Having a mingled air of fun
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and arrogance. From his herculean frame and great powers of limb, he had
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received the nickname brom Bones, by which he was universally known. He was
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famed for great knowledge and skill in horsemanship, being as dextrous on horseback as
31:41
a tartar. He was foremost at all races and cock fights, and with
31:45
the ascendancy which bodily strength always acquires in rustic life, he was the umpire
31:52
in all disputes, setting his hat on one side, and giving his decisions
31:56
with an air and tone that admitted to no gainsay or appeal. He was
32:02
always ready for either a fight or a frolic, but had more mischief than
32:07
ill will in his composition and with all his overbearing roughness. There was a
32:13
strong dash of waggish good humor. At bottom. He had three or four
32:19
boon companions who regarded him as their model, and at the head of whom
32:23
he scoured the country, attending every scene of feud or merriment for miles around
32:30
in cold weather. He was distinguished by a fur cap surmounted with a flaunting
32:36
fox's tail, And when the folks and a country gathering descried this well known
32:42
crest at a distance whisking about among the squad of hard riders, they always
32:46
stood by for a squall. Sometimes his crew would be heard dashing along past
32:52
farm houses at midnight with whoop and halloo, like a troop of don Cossacks,
32:57
and the old dames started out of their sleep, would listen for a
33:01
moment till the hurry scurry had clattered by, and then exclaimed, Aye,
33:07
there goes brom Bones and his gang. The neighbors looked upon him with a
33:13
mixture of awe, admiration and good will, and when any mad cap prank
33:17
or rusting brawl occurred in the vicinity, they always shook their heads and warranted
33:23
brom Bones was at the bottom of it. This rantipole hero had for some
33:30
time singled out the blooming Katrina for the object of his uncouth gallantries. And
33:36
though his amorous toyings were something like the gentle caresses and endearments of a bear,
33:40
yet it was whispered that she did not altogether discourage his hopes. Certain
33:46
it is his advances were signals for rival candidates to retire, who felt no
33:52
inclination to cross a lion in his amours. Insomuch that when his horse was
33:58
seen tied to Vantaevsseles paling on a Sunday night, a sure sign that his
34:02
master was courting, or as it is termed sparking within, all other suitors
34:09
passed by in despair and carried the war to other quarters. Such was the
34:17
formidable rival with whom Ichabod Crane had to contend, and considering all things,
34:23
a stouter man than he would have shrunk from the competition, and a wiser
34:29
man would have despaired. He had, However, a happy mixture of pliability
34:34
and perseverance in his nature. He was, in foreman's spirit like a supple
34:38
jack, yielding but tough. Though he bent, he never broke, and
34:44
though he bowed beneath the slightest pressure. Yet the moment it was away jerk,
34:49
he was erect and carried his head as high as ever. To have
34:54
taken the field openly against his rival would have been madness, for he was
34:59
not a man to be thwarted in his amours any more than that stormy lover
35:04
Achilles. Ichabod therefore made his advances in a quiet and gently insinuating manner.
35:12
Under cover of his character of singing master. He made frequent visits at the
35:15
farmhouse, not that he had anything to apprehend from the meddlesome interference of parents,
35:22
which is so often a stumbling block in the path of lovers. Balt
35:25
Van Tassel was an easy, indulgent soul. He loved his daughter better than
35:30
his pipe, and, like a reasonable man and an excellent father, let
35:35
her have her way in everything. His notable little wife, too, had
35:39
enough to do to attend to her housekeeping and manage her poultry, for,
35:44
as she sagely observed, ducks and geese are foolish things and must be looked
35:50
after. But girls can take care of themselves. Thus, while the busy
35:55
dame bustled about the house or plied her spinning wheel at the water end of
36:00
the piazza. Honest Bault would sit smoking his pipe at the other watching the
36:05
achievements of a little wooden warrior, who, armed with a sword in each
36:09
hand, was most valiantly fighting in the wind in the pinnacle of the barn.
36:15
In the meantime, Ichabad would carry on his suit with the daughter by
36:20
the side of the spring under the great elm, or sauntering along in the
36:24
twilight that hour so favorable to the lover's eloquence. I profess not to know
36:32
how women's hearts are wooed and one. To me, they have always been
36:37
matters of riddle and admiration. Some seem to have but one vulnerable point or
36:44
door of access, while others have a thousand avenues and may be captured in
36:49
a thousand different ways. It is a great triumph of skill to gain the
36:53
former, but a still greater proof of generalship to maintain possession of the latter.
37:00
For a man must battle for his fortress at every door and window.
37:06
He who wins a thousand common hearts is therefore entitled to some renown. But
37:12
he who keeps undisputed sway over the heart of a coquette is indeed a hero.
37:19
Certain it is. This was not the case with the redoubtable brom Bones,
37:24
and from the moment Ichabod Crane made his advances, the interests of the
37:30
former evidently declined. His horse was no longer seen tied to the palings on
37:37
Saturday nights, and a deadly feud gradually arose between him and the preceptor of
37:45
Sleepy Hollow. Brohm, who had a degree of rough chivalry in his nature,
37:51
would fain have carried matters to open warfare, and have settled their pretensions
37:54
to the lady according to the mode of those most concise and simple reasoners the
38:00
Knights Errant of Yore by single combat. But Ichabod was too conscious of the
38:06
superior might of his adversary to enter the lists against him. He had overheard
38:10
a boast of Bones that he would double the schoolmaster up and lay him on
38:16
a shelf of his own schoolhouse, and he was too wary to give him
38:21
an opportunity. There was something extremely provoking in this obstinately pacific system. It
38:28
left Brahm no alternative but to draw upon the funds of rustic waggery in his
38:34
disposition, and to play off boorish practical jokes. Upon his rival, Ichabod
38:40
became the object of whimsical persecution to Bones and his gang of rough riders.
38:46
They harried his hitherto peaceful domains, smoked out the singing school by stopping up
38:52
the chimney, broke into the schoolhouse at night in spite of its formidable fastenings
38:59
of wide than window stakes, and turned everything topsy turvy, so that the
39:04
poor schoolmaster began to think all the witches in the country held their meetings there.
39:10
But what was still more annoying, brom took all the opportunities of turning
39:15
him into ridicule in the presence of his mistress and a scoundrel dog, whom
39:22
he taught to whine in the most ludicrous manner, and introduced as a rival
39:27
of Ichabod's to instructor Insalmody. In this way matters went on for some time
39:36
without producing any material effect on the relative situations of the contending powers. On
39:42
a fine autumnal afternoon, Ichabod, in pensive mood, sat enthroned on the
39:47
lofty stool, from whence he usually watched all the concerns of his little literary
39:52
realm in his hand. He swayed a ferule, that scepter of despotic power,
40:00
the birch of justice, reposed on three nails behind the throne, a
40:05
constant terror to evil doers. While on the desk before him might be seen
40:09
sundry contraband articles and prohibited weapons detected upon the persons of idle urchins, such
40:17
as half munched apples, pop guns, whirligigs, fly cages, and whole
40:23
legions of rampant little paper game cocks. Apparently there had been some appalling active
40:32
justice recently inflicted, for his scholars were all busily intent upon their books or
40:38
slyly whispering behind them with what eye kept on the master, and a kind
40:44
of buzzing stillness reigned throughout the school room. It was suddenly interrupted by the
40:50
appearance of a negro in a towcloth jacket and trousers, a round crowned fragment
40:55
of a hat like the cap of Mercury, and mounted on the back of
41:00
a ragged, wild, half broken colt, which he managed with a rope
41:04
by way of a halter. He came clattering up to the school with an
41:07
invitation to Acabad to attend a merry making or quilting frolic to be held that
41:15
afternoon at Mineer van Tossel's. And having delivered his message with that air of
41:21
importance and effort at fine language which a negro is apt to display on petty
41:27
embassies of the kind, he dashed over the brook and was seen scampering away
41:31
up the hollow, full of the importance and hurry of his mission. All
41:37
was now bustle and hubbub in the late quiet school room. The scholars were
41:43
hurried through their lessons without stopping at trifles. Those who were dimbles skipped over
41:47
half with impunity, and those who were tardy had a smart application now and
41:53
then in the rear to quicken their speed or help them over a tall word.
41:59
Books were flung aside without being put away on the shelves, inkstands were
42:02
overturned, benches thrown down, and the whole school was turned loose an hour
42:08
before the usual time, bursting forth like a legion of young imps, yelping
42:15
and racketing about the green in joy at their early emancipation. The gallantic caapod
42:22
now spent at least an extra half hour at his toilet's brushing and furbishing up
42:27
his best and indeed only suit of rusty black, and arranging his locks by
42:32
a bit of broken looking glass that hung up in the schoolhouse, that he
42:37
might make his appearance before his mistress in the true style of a cavalier.
42:43
He borrowed a horse from the farmer with whom he was domosilated, a choleric
42:47
old Dutchman of the name of Hansband's Ripper, and thus gallantly mounted issued forth
42:53
like a knight errant in quest of adventures. But it is meat I should
43:00
good in the true spirit of romantic story, give some account of the looks
43:04
and equipments of my hero and his steed. The animal he bestrode was a
43:08
broken down plow horse that had outlived almost everything but its viciousness. He was
43:15
gaunt and shagged, with a eywe neck and a head like a hammer.
43:20
His rusty mane and tail were tangled and knotted with burrs. One eye had
43:24
lost its pupil and was glaring and spectral, but the other had the gleam
43:30
of a genuine devil in it. Still, he must have had fire and
43:35
metal in his day, if we may judge from the name he bore of
43:38
gunpowder. He had in fact been a favorite steed of his masters, the
43:43
Coleric van Ripper, who was a furious rider and had infused very probably some
43:49
of his own spirit into the animal. For old and broken down as he
43:53
looked, there was more of the lurking devil in him than in any young
43:58
philly in the country. Acobod was a suitable figure for such a steed.
44:04
He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel
44:07
of his saddle, his sharp elbows stuck out like grasshoppers. He carried his
44:13
whip perpendicularly in his hand like a scepter, and as his horse jogged on,
44:17
the motion of his arms was not unlike the flapping of a pair of
44:21
wings. A small wool hat rested at the top of his nose, for
44:27
so his scanty strip of forehead might be called, and the skirts of his
44:30
black coat fluttered out almost to the horse's tail. Such was the appearance of
44:37
Ichabod and his steed as they shambled out of the gate of Hans van Ripper.
44:42
And it was altogether such an apparition as is seldom to be met with
44:46
in broad daylight. It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal
44:52
day. The sky was very clear and serene, and nature wore that rich
44:58
and golden livery which we owe always associate with the idea of abundance. The
45:04
forests had put on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees of the
45:08
tenderer kind had been nipped by the frosts into brilliant eyes of orange, purple,
45:15
and scarlet. Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their appearance high
45:21
in the air. The bark of the squirrel might be heard from the groves
45:24
of beech and hickory nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail at intervals
45:30
from the neighboring stubble field. The small birds were taking their farewell banquets.
45:37
In the fullness of their revelry. They fluttered, chirping and frolicking from bush
45:42
to bush and tree to tree, capricious from the very profusion and variety around
45:47
them. There was the honest cock robin, the favorite game of stripling sportsmen,
45:53
with its loud, querulous note, and the twittering blackbirds flying in sable
46:00
clouds, And the golden winged woodpecker with his crimson crest, his broad black
46:07
gorget and splendid plumage, and the cedar bird with its red tipped wings and
46:13
yellow tipped tail in its little montereiro cap of feathers, and the blue jay
46:19
that noisy cockscomb, in his gay light blue coat and white underclothes, screaming
46:24
and chattering, nodding and bobbing and bowing, and pretending to be on good
46:30
terms with every song stir of the grove. As Ichabod jogged slowly on his
46:37
way, his eye ever opened to every symptom of culinary abundance, ranged with
46:44
delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. On all sides he beheld vast store
46:51
of apples, some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees, some gathered into
46:55
baskets and barrels for the market, others heaped up in rich piles for the
47:00
cider press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn, with its
47:07
golden ears peeping from their leafy converts and holding out the promise of cakes and
47:14
hasty pudding, And the yellow pumpkins lying beneath them, turning up their fair
47:20
round bellies to the sun and giving ample prospects of the most luxurious of pies.
47:25
And anon. He passed the fragrant buckwheat fields, breathing the odor of
47:30
the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations stole over his mind
47:37
of dainty slapjacks, well buttered and garnished with honey or trickle by the delicate,
47:45
little dimpled hand of Ketterid of van Tassel, thus feeding his mind with
47:53
many sweet thoughts and sugared suppositions. He journeyed along the sides of a range
48:00
of hills which look out upon some of the goodliest scenes of the mighty Hudson.
48:06
The sun gradually wheeled his broad disk down. In the west, the
48:10
wide bosom of the Tapanzee lay motionless and glassy, excepting that here and there
48:17
a gentle undulation waved and prolonged the blue shadow. In the distant mountain.
48:23
A few amber clouds floated in the sky, without a breath of air to
48:28
move them. The horizon was of a fine golden tint, changing gradually into
48:35
a pure apple green, and from that into the deep blue of the mid
48:42
heaven. A slanting ray lingered on the woody crests of the precipices that overhung
48:47
some parts of the river, giving greater depth to the dark gray and purple
48:53
of their rocky sides. A sloop was loitering in the distance, dropping slowly
48:59
down with the tide, her sail hanging uselessly against the mast, and as
49:05
the reflection of the sky gleamed along the still water, it seemed as if
49:10
the vessel was suspended in air. It was toward evening that Ichabad arrived at
49:20
the castle of dhir Van Tassel, which he found thronged with the pride and
49:24
flower of the adjacent country. Old farmers, a spare, leathern faced race
49:31
in homespun coats and breeches, blue stockings, huge shoes, and magnificent pewter
49:37
buckles. Their brisk, withered little dames in close crimped caps, long waisted
49:44
short gowns, homespun petticoats with scissors and pincushions, and gay calico pockets hanging
49:51
on the outside buxom lasses almost as antiquated as their mothers, excepting were a
49:58
straw hat. A fine ri or perhaps a white frock, gave symptoms of
50:01
city inovasion. The sons in short, square skirted coats with rows of stupendous
50:08
brass, buttons and their hair generally cued in the fashion of the times,
50:14
especially if they could procure an eel skin for the purpose, it being esteemed
50:20
throughout the country as a potent nourisher and strengthener of the hair. Brom Bones,
50:27
however, was the hero of the scene, having come to the gathering
50:30
on his favorite steed, Daredevil, a creature like himself, full of metal
50:37
and mischief, and which no one but himself could manage. He was,
50:42
in fact noted for preferring vicious animals, given to all kinds of tricks,
50:47
which kept the rider in a constant risk of his neck, for he held
50:52
a tractable, well broken horse as unworthy of a lad of spirit. Fain
50:59
would I Paul to dwell upon the world of charms that burst upon the enraptured
51:04
gaze of my hero as he entered the state parlor of van Tassel's mansion.
51:08
Not those of the bevy of bucks and lasses, with their luxurious display of
51:14
red and white, but the ample charms of a genuine Dutch country tea table
51:20
in the sumptuous time of autumn. Such heaped up platters of cakes of various
51:27
and almost indescribable kinds, known only to experienced Dutch housewives, there was the
51:34
doughty doughnut, the tender oly cook, and the crisp and crumbling, crueler
51:40
sweet cakes and short cakes, ginger cakes and honey cakes, and the whole
51:46
family of cakes. And then there were apple pies and peach pies and pumpkin
51:53
pies, and besides slices of ham and smoked beef, and moreover delectable tishes
51:59
of reserved plums and peaches and pears and quinces, not to mention broiled shad
52:05
and roasted chickens, together with bowls of milk and cream, all mingled higglety
52:09
piggleley, pretty much as I have enumerated them, With the motherly teapot sending
52:15
up its clouds of vapor from the mist heaven, bless the mark. I
52:20
want breath and time to discuss this banquet as it deserves, and am too
52:24
eager to get on with my story happily. Ichabod Crane was not in so
52:30
great a hurry as his historian, but did ample justice to every dainty.
52:37
He was a kind and thankful creature, whose heart dilated in proportion as his
52:42
skin was filled with good cheer, and whose spirits rose with eating, as
52:47
some men's do with drink. He would not help too, rolling his large
52:52
eyes about him as he ate, and chuckling with the possibility that he might
52:57
one day be lord of all this sea in almost unimaginable luxury and splendor.
53:04
Then he thought, how soon he'd turn his back upon the old schoolhouse,
53:07
snap his fingers in the face of Hans van Ripper and every other niggardly patron,
53:14
and kick any itinerant pedagogue out the doors that he should dare to call
53:19
him. Comrade. Old Baltus von Tossel moved about among his guests with a
53:24
face dilated with content and good humor, round and jolly as the harvest moon.
53:31
His hospitable attentions were brief but expressive, being confined to a shake of
53:37
the hand, a slap on the shoulder, a loud laugh, and a
53:40
pressing invitation to fall to and help themselves. And now the sound of the
53:47
music from the common room were hauled summoned to the dance. The musician was
53:52
an old, gray headed Negro who had bid the itinerant orchestra of the neighborhood
53:58
for more than half a century. His instrument was old and battered as himself.
54:04
The greater part of the time he scraped on two or three strings,
54:08
accompanying every movement of the bow with a motion of his head, bowing almost
54:14
to the ground, and stamping with his foot whenever a fresh couple were to
54:19
start. Icabad prided himself upon his dancing as much as upon his vocal powers.
54:25
Not a limb, not a fiber about him was idle, And to
54:30
have seen his loosely hung frame in full motion and clattering about the room,
54:35
you would have thought Saint Vitus himself, that blessed patron of the dance was
54:39
figuring before you in person. He was the admiration of all the negroes,
54:45
who, having gathered of all ages and sizes from the farm and the neighborhood,
54:52
stood forming a pyramid of shining black faces at every door and window,
54:57
gazing with delight at the scene, rolling their white eyeballs and showing grinning rows
55:02
of ivory from ear to ear. How could the flogger of urchins be otherwise
55:08
than animated and joyous. The lady of his heart was his partner in the
55:14
dance, and smiling graciously in reply to all his amorous oglings, while brom
55:21
Bones, sorely smitten with love and jealousy, sat brooding by himself in the
55:27
corner. When the dance was at an end, Acobad was attracted to a
55:31
knot of the Sager folks, who, with Old van Tassels, sat smoking
55:37
at one end of the piazza, gossiping over former times and drawing out the
55:44
long stories about the war. This neighborhood, at the time of which I
55:50
am speaking, was one of those highly favored places which abound with chronicle and
55:55
great men. The British and American line had run near it during the war,
56:00
and it had therefore been the scene of marauding and infested with refugees,
56:07
cowboys, and all kinds of border chivalry. Just sufficient time had elapsed to
56:14
enable each story teller to dress up his tale with a little becoming fiction,
56:20
and in the indistinctness of his recollection, to make himself the hero of every
56:24
exploit. There was the story of Daufu Martling, a large blue bearded Dutchman
56:32
who had nearly taken a British frigate with an old iron nine pounder from a
56:37
mud breastwork, only that his gon burst at the sixth discharge And there was
56:43
an old gentleman, who shall be nameless, being too rich a pioneer to
56:49
be lightly mentioned, who, in the Battle of White Plains, being an
56:52
excellent master of defense, parried a musket ball with a small sword, insomuch
56:58
that he absolutely felt it is round the blade and glance off the hilt,
57:02
in proof of which he was ready at any time to show the sword with
57:07
the hilt a little bent. There were several more that had been equally great
57:12
in that field, not one of whom but was persuaded that he had a
57:16
considerable land in bringing the war to a happy termination. But all these were
57:24
nothing to the tales of ghosts and apparitions that succeeded. The neighborhood was rich
57:31
in legendary treasures of the kind. Local tales and superstitions thrive best in these
57:38
sheltered, long settled retreats, but are trampled under foot by the shifting throng
57:45
that forms the population of most country places. Besides, there is no encouragement
57:52
for ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to
57:58
finish their first nap and turn themselves over in their graves before their surviving friends
58:04
have traveled away from the neighborhood, so that when they turn out at night
58:08
to walk their rounds, they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This
58:14
is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts, except in our
58:20
long established Dutch communities. The immediate cause, however, of the prevalence of
58:27
supernatural stories in these parts, was doubtless owing to the vicinity of Sleepy Hollow.
58:35
There was a contagion in the very air that blew from that haunted region.
58:39
It breathed forth an atmosphere of dreams and fancies, infecting all the land.
58:45
Several of the Sleepy Hollow people were present at Van Tassel's and as usual,
58:52
were doling out their wild and wonderful legends. Many dismal tales were told
58:58
about funeral trainanes and morning cries and wailings heard and seen about the Great Tree,
59:06
where the unfortunate Major Andre was taken, and which stood in the neighborhood.
59:12
Some mention was also given of the women in white that haunted the dark
59:17
glen at Raven Rock, and was often heard to shriek on winter nights before
59:22
a storm, having perished there in the snow. The chief part of the
59:29
stories, however, turned about the favorite specter of Sleepy Hollow, the headless
59:34
horseman, who had been heard several times of late patrolling the country, and
59:39
it was said, tethered his horse nightly among the graves in the churchyard.
59:47
The sequestered situation of this church seems always to have made it a favorite haunt
59:53
of troubled spirits. It stands on a knoll, surrounded by locust trees and
1:00:00
lofty elms, from among which its decent, white washed walls shine modestly forth,
1:00:07
like Christian purity, beaming through the shades of retirement. A gentle slope
1:00:13
descends from it to a silver sheet of water, bordered by high trees,
1:00:20
between which peeps may be caught at the blue hills of the Hudson. To
1:00:25
look upon its grass grown yard, where the sunbeams seem to sleep so quietly,
1:00:32
one would think that there, at least the dead might rest in peace.
1:00:38
On one side of the church extends a wide, woody dell, along
1:00:43
which raves of a large brook, among broken rocks and trunks of fallen down
1:00:47
trees. Over a deep black part of the stream, not far from the
1:00:52
church, was formerly thrown a wooden bridge, The road that led to it,
1:00:58
and the bridge itself were thickly shaded by overhanging trees, which cast a
1:01:02
gloom about it even in the daytime, but occasioned a fearful darkness at night.
1:01:10
Such was one of the favorite haunts of the headless Horseman, and the
1:01:15
place where he was most frequently encountered. The tale was told of Old Broer,
1:01:22
the most heredical disbeliever in ghosts, of how he met the horseman returning
1:01:27
from his foray into Sleepy Hollow, and was obliged to get up behind him,
1:01:31
and how they galloped over bush and break over hill and swamp until they
1:01:36
reached the bridge, when the horseman suddenly turned into a skeleton, threw Old
1:01:42
Broer into the brook and sprang away over the tree tops with a clap of
1:01:45
thunder. This story was immediately matched by a thrice marvelous adventure of brom Bones,
1:01:54
who made light of the galloping Hessian as an errant jockey. He affirmed
1:01:59
that on returning one night from the neighboring village of Sing Sing, he had
1:02:04
been overtaken by this midnight trooper, that he had offered to race him for
1:02:08
a bowl of punch and should have won it too, for daredevil beat that
1:02:13
goblin horse all hollow, But just as they came to the church bridge,
1:02:16
the Hessian bolted and vanished in a flash of fire. All these tales told
1:02:23
in that drowsy undertone with which men talk in the dark. The countenances of
1:02:30
the listeners only now and then, receiving a casual gleam from the glare of
1:02:34
a pipe, sank deep in the mind of Ichabod. He repaid them in
1:02:39
kind with large extracts from his invaluable author, cotton Mother, and added many
1:02:46
marvelous events that had taken place in his native state of Connecticut, and fearful
1:02:52
sights which he had seen in his nightly walks about Sleepy Hollow. The rebel
1:02:58
now gradually broke up. The old farmers gathered together their families in their wagons,
1:03:05
and were heard for some time rattling along the hollow roads and over the
1:03:09
distant hills. Some of the damsels mounted on pillions behind their favorite swains,
1:03:16
and their light hearted laughter, mingling with the clatter of hoofs, echoed through
1:03:22
the dark, silent woodlands, sounding fainter and fainter, until they gradually died
1:03:30
away. And the late scene of noise and frolic was all silent and deserted.
1:03:37
Icabad only lingered behind, according to the custom of country lovers, to
1:03:43
have a tete a tete with the heiress, fully convinced that he was now
1:03:46
on the high road to success. What passed at this interview I will not
1:03:52
pretend to say, for in fact I do not know. Something. However,
1:03:57
I fear me must have gone, for he certainly sallied forth after no
1:04:02
very great interval, with an air quite desolate. Had chapfallen? Oh?
1:04:08
These women? These women? Could that girl have been playing off any of
1:04:14
her coquettish tricks? Was her encouragement of the poor pedagogue all a mere sham
1:04:19
to secure her conquest of his rival? Heaven only knows not. I let
1:04:25
it suffice to say that Ichabod stole forth with the air of one who has
1:04:30
been sacking a hen roost rather than a fair lady's heart, without looking to
1:04:36
either left or right to notice the scene of rural wealth on which he had
1:04:42
so often gloated. He went straight to the stable, and with several hearty
1:04:46
cuffs and kicks, roused his steed most uncourteously from the comfortable quarters in which
1:04:53
he was soundly sleeping, dreaming of mountains of cord and Oats, and whole
1:04:59
valleys of Timothy and Clover. It was the very witching time of night that
1:05:06
Ichabad, heavy hearted and crestfallen, pursued his travels homewards along the sides of
1:05:14
the lofty hills which rise above Tarrytown, and which he had traversed so cheerily
1:05:20
in the afternoon. The hour was as dismal as himself. Far below,
1:05:28
the Tapanzee spread its dusky and indistinct waste of waters, with here and there
1:05:33
the tall mast of a snoop riding quietly at anchor under the land. In
1:05:40
the dead hush of midnight, he could even hear the barking of the watchdog
1:05:45
from the opposite shore of the Hudson, but it was so vague and faint
1:05:51
as to only give an idea of his distance from the faithful companion of man.
1:05:58
Now and then the long drawn out crowing of a cock accidentally awakened with
1:06:03
sound far far off from some farmhouse away from the hills, but it was
1:06:12
like a dreaming sound in his ear. No sounds of life occurred near him,
1:06:16
but occasionally the melancholy chirp of a cricket, or perhaps the guttural twang
1:06:23
of a bullfrog in its neighboring marsh, as if sleeping uncomfortably and turning suddenly
1:06:29
in his bed. All the stories of ghosts and goblins that he had heard
1:06:36
in the afternoon now came crowding upon his recollection. The night grew darker and
1:06:45
darker, The stars seemed to sink deeper in the sky, and driving clouds
1:06:53
occasionally hid them from his sight. He had never felt so lonely and dismal.
1:07:00
He was moreover approaching the very place where many of the scenes of the
1:07:04
ghost stories had been laid. In the center of the road stood an enormous
1:07:11
tulip tree, which towered like a giant above all the other trees of the
1:07:15
neighborhood and formed a kind of landmark. Its limbs were gnarled and fantastic,
1:07:21
large enough to form trunks for ordinary trees, twisting down almost to the earth
1:07:28
and rising again into the air. It was connected with the tragical story of
1:07:33
the unfortunate Andre, who had been taken prisoner hard by, and was universally
1:07:40
known by the name of Major Andre's Tree. The common people regarded it with
1:07:45
a mixture of respect and superstition, partly out of sympathy for the fate of
1:07:50
its ill starred namesake, and partly from the tales of strange sights and doleful
1:07:58
lamentations told concerning it. As Ichabod approached this fearful tree, he began to
1:08:06
whistle. He thought his whistle was answered, but it was but a blast,
1:08:13
sweeping sharply through the dry branches. As he approached a little nearer,
1:08:17
he thought he saw something white hanging in the midst of the trees. He
1:08:23
paused and ceased whistling, But on looking more narrowly, he perceived that it
1:08:29
was a place where the tree had been scathed by lightning, and the white
1:08:33
wood laid bare. Suddenly he heard a groan, His teeth chattered, his
1:08:39
knees smote against the saddle. It was but the rubbing of one huge bough
1:08:45
upon another as they were swayed about by the breeze. He passed the tree
1:08:50
in safety, but new perils lay before him. About a hundred yards from
1:09:00
the tree, a small brook crossed the road and ran into a marshy and
1:09:04
thickly wooded glen known by the name of Wiley's Swamp. A few rough logs
1:09:11
laid side by side served for a bridge over this stream. On that side
1:09:16
of the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and
1:09:20
chestnuts, matted dick with wild grape vines threw a cavernous gloom over it.
1:09:27
To pass this bridge was the severest trial. It was at this identical spot
1:09:34
that the unfortunate Andre was captured, and under the covert of these chestnuts and
1:09:41
vines were the sturdy yeoman concealed who surprised him. This has ever been considered
1:09:48
a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to
1:09:54
pass it alone after dark. As he approached the stream, his heart began
1:10:00
and to thump he summoned up. However, all his resolution, gave his
1:10:03
horse half a score of kicks and the ribs, and attempted to dash briskly
1:10:08
across the bridge. But instead of starting forward, the perverse old animal made
1:10:15
a lateral movement and ran broadside against the fence. Acabad, whose spears increased
1:10:20
with the delay, jerked the reins on the other side, and kicked lustily
1:10:25
with the contrary foot. It was all in vain. His steed started,
1:10:30
it is true, but it was only to plunge to the opposite side of
1:10:34
the road into a new thicket of brambles and alder bushes. The schoolmaster now
1:10:40
bestowed both whip and heel upon the quivering ribs of old gunpowder, who dashed
1:10:45
forward, snuffling and snorting, but came to a stand just by the bridge
1:10:49
with a suddenness that had nearly sent his riders sprawling over his head. Just
1:10:58
at this moment, a plashy tramp by the side of the bridge caught the
1:11:02
sensitive ear of Ichabod. In the dark shadow of the grove, on the
1:11:08
margin of the brook, he beheld something huge, misshapen and towering. It
1:11:16
stirred not, but seemed gathered up by the gloom, like some gigantic monster,
1:11:24
ready to spring upon the traveler. The hair of the affrighted pedagogue rose
1:11:30
upon his head with terror. What was to be done? To turn and
1:11:31
fly was now too late, And besides, what chance was there of escaping
1:11:36
a ghost or a goblin, if such it was, which could ride upon
1:11:41
the wings of the wind. Summoning up there for show of courage, he
1:11:45
demanded in stammering accents, who are you? He received no reply. He
1:11:54
repeated his demand in a still more agitated voice. Still there was no answer.
1:12:00
Once more, he cudgeled the sides of the inflexible Gunpowder, and,
1:12:04
shutting his eyes, broke forth with involuntary fervor into a psalm tune. Just
1:12:11
then the shadowy object of blom put itself in motion with a scramble, and
1:12:14
a bound stood at once in the middle of the road. Though the night
1:12:17
was dark and dismal, yet the form of the unknown might now in some
1:12:23
degree be ascertained. He appeared to be a horseman of large dimensions, and
1:12:29
mounted on a black horse a powerful frame. He made no offer of modestation
1:12:34
or sociability, but came aloof on one side of the road, jogging along
1:12:40
on the blind side of old Gunpowder, who had now got over his fright
1:12:45
and waywardness. Hikabad, who had no relish for this strange midnight companion,
1:12:49
and bethought himself of the adventure of brom Bones. With the galloping Hecchian now
1:12:54
quickened his steed in hopes of leaving him behind. The stranger, however,
1:12:59
quickened his horse to an equal pace Icabad pulled up, fell into a walk,
1:13:03
thinking to lag behind, but the other did the same. His heart
1:13:10
began to sink within him. He endeavored to resume his psalm tone, but
1:13:14
his parched tongue clove to the roof of his mouth, and he could not
1:13:18
utter a stave. There was something in the moody and dogged silence of this
1:13:24
portentous companion that was mysterious and appalling. It was soon fearfully accounted for.
1:13:31
On ounting a rising ground, which brought the figure of his fellow traveler in
1:13:35
relief against the sky. Gigantic in height and muffled in a cloak, Hiccobod
1:13:41
was horror struck on perceiving that he was headless. But his horror was still
1:13:48
more increased on observing that the head, which should have rested on his shoulders,
1:13:56
was carried before him on the pommel of his saddle. His terror rose
1:14:00
to desperation. He rained a shower of kicks and blows upon gunpowder, hoping
1:14:03
by sudden movement to give his companion the slip, But the specter started full
1:14:10
jump with him away. Then they dashed through the thick and thin stones,
1:14:15
flying sparks flashing at every bound. Ichabod's flimsy garments fluttered in the air as
1:14:19
he stretched his long, lank body away over his horse's head in the eagerness
1:14:24
of his flight. They had now reached the road which turns off to Sleepy
1:14:30
Hollow, but Gunpowder, who seemed possessed with a demon, instead of keeping
1:14:33
up it, made an opposite turn and plunged headlong down hill to the left.
1:14:40
This road leads through a sandy hollow shaded by trees for about a quarter
1:14:45
of a mile, where it crosses the famous bridge of the Goblin Story,
1:14:51
and just beyond swells the green knoll, on which stands the whitewashed Church.
1:15:00
As yet, the panic of the steed had given his unskillful rider an apparent
1:15:03
advantage in the chase. But just as he had got half way through the
1:15:08
hollow, the girths of the saddle gave way, and he felt it slipping
1:15:12
under him. He seized it by the pommel and endeavored to hold it firm
1:15:15
but in vain, and he had just time to save himself by clasping old
1:15:19
Gunpowder round the neck when the saddle fell to the earth, and he heard
1:15:24
it trampled under foot by his pursuer. For a moment, the terror of
1:15:27
Hans van Ripper's wrath passed across his mind, for it was his Sunday's saddle.
1:15:31
But this was no time for petty fears. The goblin was hard on
1:15:35
his haunches, and unskillful rider that he was, he had much ado to
1:15:40
maintain his seat, sometimes slipping on one side and sometimes on another, and
1:15:44
sometimes jolted on the high ridge of his horses backbone. The violence that he
1:15:47
verily feared would cleave him asunder, and opening in the trees now cheered him
1:15:53
with the hopes that the church bridge was at hand. The wavering reflection of
1:15:58
a silver star and the bosom of the broke told him he was not mistaken.
1:16:01
He saw the walls of the church dimly glaring under the trees. Beyond
1:16:05
he recollected the place where brom Bone's ghostly competitors disappeared. If I can't but
1:16:11
reach that bridge, thought a Gubad. I am safe. Just then he
1:16:15
heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him, and even fancied that
1:16:19
he felt its hot breath. Another convulsive kick in the ribs, and old
1:16:23
gunpowder sprang upon the bridge. He thundered over the resounding planks. He gained
1:16:27
the opposite side, and now Ichabod cast a look behind to see if his
1:16:32
pursuer should vanish according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone.
1:16:38
Just then he saw the Goblin rising in his stirrups, and in the very
1:16:44
act of hurling his head at him, Hikobad endeavored to dodge the horrible missile,
1:16:49
but too late it encountered his cranium with a tremendous crash. He was
1:16:55
tumbled headlong into the dust and gunpowder. The black steed and the gob and
1:17:00
rider all passed by like a whirlwind. The next morning, the old horse
1:17:09
was found without his saddle and with the bridle under his feet, soberly cropping
1:17:15
the grass at his master's gate. Icabad did not make his appearance at breakfast.
1:17:24
Dinner hour came, but no Ichabod. The boys assembled at the schoolhouse
1:17:29
and strolled idly about the banks of the brook, but no schoolmaster. Hans
1:17:34
van Ripper began to feel some uneasiness about the fate of poor Ichabad and his
1:17:41
saddle. An inquiry was set afoot, and after diligent investigation, they came
1:17:46
upon his traces. In one part of the road leading to the church,
1:17:53
he found the saddle trampled in the dirt, the tracks of horses hoofs deeply
1:17:58
dented the road, and evidently at furious speed, were traced to the bridge,
1:18:04
beyond which, on the bank of a broad part of the brook,
1:18:11
where the water ran deep and black, was found the hat of the unfortunate
1:18:17
Ichabod, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin. The brook was searched,
1:18:30
but the body of the schoolmaster was not to be discover'd. Hans band Ripper,
1:18:35
as executor of his estate, examined the bundle which contained all his worldly
1:18:40
effects. They consisted of two shirts and a half, two socks for the
1:18:44
neck, a pair of two worsted stockings, an old pair of corduroy small
1:18:49
clothes, a rusty razor, a book of psalm tunes full of dog ears,
1:18:54
and a broken pitch pipe. As to the books and furniture of the
1:18:58
schoolhouse, they belong to the community accepting Cotton Mather's history of Witchcraft, a
1:19:03
New England Almanac, and a book of Dreams and fortune Telling, in which
1:19:09
last was a sheet of foolscap, much scribbled and blotted in several fruitless attempts
1:19:15
to make a copy of Verses in honor of the heiress of van Tassel.
1:19:19
These magic books and the poetic scrawl were forthwith consigned to the flames by Hans
1:19:26
van Ripper, who from that time forward determined to send his children no more
1:19:31
to school, observing that he never knew any good came of that same reading
1:19:36
and writing. Whatever money the schoolmaster possessed, and he had received his quarters
1:19:43
pay but a day or two before, he must have had about his person
1:19:46
at the time of his disappearance. The mysterious event caused much speculation at the
1:19:55
church. On the following Sunday, knots of gazers and gossips were collected in
1:20:00
the churchyard at the bridge and at the spot where the hat and pumpkin had
1:20:04
been found. The stories of Broer of Bones, and of a whole budget
1:20:11
of others were called to mind, and when they had diligently considered them all
1:20:15
and compared them with the symptoms of the present case, they shook their heads
1:20:19
and came to the conclusion that Ichabod had been carried off by the galloping Hessian,
1:20:26
as he was a bachelor and in Nobody's debt, Nobody troubled his head
1:20:29
any more about him, and the school was removed to a different quarter of
1:20:32
the hollow, and another pedagogue reigned in his stead. It is true an
1:20:39
old farmer who had been down to New York on a visit several years earlier,
1:20:44
and from whom this account of the ghostly adventure was received, brought home
1:20:48
the intelligence that Ichabod Crane was still alive, and that had left the neighborhood,
1:20:54
partly through fear of the Goblin and Hans van Ripper, and partly in
1:20:58
mortification at having been suddenly dismissed by the heiress. That he had changed his
1:21:02
quarters to a distant part of the country and kept school and studied law.
1:21:06
At the same time had been admitted to the bar, turned politician, electioneered,
1:21:12
written for the newspapers, and finally had been made a Justice of the
1:21:15
ten Pound Court. Brombones, too, who shortly after his rival's disappearance,
1:21:21
conducted the Blooming Katrina in triumph to the Altar, was observed to look exceedingly
1:21:28
knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related, and always burst into a hearty
1:21:33
laugh at the mention of the pumpkin, which led some to suspect that he
1:21:39
knew more about the matter than he chose to tell. The old country wives,
1:21:45
however, who were the best judges of these matters, maintain to this
1:21:50
day that Ichabod was spirited away by supernatural means, and it is a favorite
1:21:58
story often told about the neighborhood. Round the winter evening fire. The bridge
1:22:03
became more than ever an object of superstitious awe, and that may be the
1:22:10
reason why the road has been altered of late years, so as to approach
1:22:15
the church by the border of the mill pond. The schoolhouse, being deserted,
1:22:19
soon fell to decay, and was reported to be haunted by the ghost
1:22:24
of the unfortunate pedagogue. And the plowboy, loitering homeward of a still summer
1:22:30
evening, has often fancied his voice at a distance, chanting a melancholy psalm
1:22:36
tune among the tranquil solitudes of Sleepy Hollow. And so ends the legend of
1:22:49
Sleepy Hollow. By Washington Irving