Buy the Book
by Washington Irving (abridged)
Once, long ago, a schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane came to Sleepy Hollow. He was tall, and lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together. If you saw him walking along the top of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes flapping around, you might have mistaken him for a scarecrow running away from a cornfield.
He was a strict teacher and a fair singing instructor, who spent his evenings gathered around fires, listening to tales of ghosts and goblins, including the story the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. The Headless Horseman was reputed to be a Hessian soldier who had carelessly stepped in front of a cannon!
The schoolmaster also fancied a lady named Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch farmer.
Since Katrina was so beautiful (and wealthy) she had many other suitors. The most formidable of these was a burly, roaring, roystering blade named Brom Van Brunt. He was broad-shouldered, fun and arrogant A horseman, a racer, and a fighter, he was nicknamed Brom Bones. Whenever there brawls or pranks, the old dames would shake their heads and say, "Ay, there goes Brom Bones and his gang!"
Ichabod Crane could not hope to win Katrina's hand in open rivalry, but as the town's singing-master, he made frequent visits to the farmhouse to woo her in private.
When Brom Bones heard of the rivalry, he wanted to duel, and threatened to "double the schoolmaster up, and lay him on a shelf of his own schoolhouse."
Ichabod Crane stayed well away.
Did I mention Ichabod Crane's horse? It was as broken-down a mean old plow-horse as you have ever seen the like, gaunt and shagged. Still he must have been strong once, because he was named Gunpowder. They made quite a sight, Ichabod on Gunpowder; the floppy scarecrow sitting up straight on the sway-backed nag, trodding up and down the country lanes.
One festival night, Ichabod Crane danced for hours with Katrina. All the while, Brom Bones, sat brooding by himself in one corner.
At the end of the dance, talk turned to ghosts, as it frequently did in Sleepy Hollow. And of course, someone mentioned that they had heard rumors of the Headless Horseman, patrolling the country, and tethering his horse nightly among the graves in the churchyard.
At last, Brom Bones told how one night he had met the horseman, and made him a bet. Whoever reached the town first would win a bowl of punch. Brom Bones would have won, too, but just as they came to the church bridge, the Horseman vanished in a flash of fire.
It was late when Ichabod Crane gave his lady's hand a kiss and headed for home. The night was dark, and the wind blew cold. All the ghost stories grew in his imagination. He heard noises in the underbrush and saw shadows following along beside him.
Then, as he was crossing the haunted stream, just past the hangman's tree, he saw emerging from the trees a large black horse carrying a gigantic rider.
Ichabod nudged Gunpowder to jog a little faster, and at the rise of the next hill, saw with horror that his riding companion, instead of carrying his head on his shoulders, held it bouncing in the his lap, with a wicked grin carved on its face.
Ichabod kicked into Gunpowder and snapped his reins. The old nag remembered some long-forgotten fury and took off like a lightening bolt. Away they dashed through thick and thin; stones flying and sparks flashing at every bound. Ichabod's flimsy garments fluttered in the air, as he stretched his long lank body away over his horse's head.
When he saw the church bridge in the distance, Ichabod Crane was ahead of the Horseman, but not by much.
"If I can but reach that bridge," thought Ichabod, "I am safe."
Just then he heard the black steed panting and blowing close behind him; he even fancied that he felt its hot breath.
Just before bridge, Ichabod looked over his shoulders and saw the goblin rising in his stirrups in the very act of hurling his head at him. Ichabod tried to dodge, but too late.
He tumbled headlong into the dust, and Gunpowder, the black steed, and the goblin rider, rode off.
The next morning the Gunpowder was found, soberly cropping the grass at his master's gate.
But of Ichabod Crane there was no sign. The tracks of the furious race were plainly trampled in the dirt along the road. And just by the edge of the church bridge was found the hat of the unfortunate school master, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin.
Some folks say that Ichabod Crane made his way out of town, afraid and ashamed, but others still tell the story around the fire of his abduction by the Headless Horseman.
Brom Bones, who shortly after Ichabod's disappearance married Katrina, always laughed at the mention of the pumpkin; which led some to suspect that he knew more about the matter than he chose to tell.
The END