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Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving · Classic Mystery & Suspense Book Collection

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