![]() ![]() (The world would have to wait until Mark Twain until the first distinctly American novel would arrive, with an entirely new voice and focus.) It is said, that Washington Irving was the first American Storyteller, as he was the first person here to earn a living entirely with his pen. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with it’s now infamous Headless Horseman, is among the earliest examples of American fiction, and has been a popular American gothic tale since it was first published in 1820. (A free eBook version is available, free of charge, at Project Gutenberg.) Discussion The next morning the only the old saddle that fell from Ichabod’s horse, and a smashed pumpkin remain. That is until a cloaked figure on horseback chases him across the bridge near the Old Dutch Burial Grounds and throws something at him. Each time, despite his terror the sounds turn out to be nothing but the wind or the calls of animals in the night. There, he is disturbed by a cacophony of eerie sounds as he passes many of the reputedly haunted areas he has spent the evening hearing tales of. The story comes to a climax the night of the Van Tassel Family’s party, where following an evening of spooky stories and dancing, Ichabod’s affections are rejected by Katrina and the dejected pedagogue finds himself riding home with a heavy heart through a particularly spooky stretch of woods and marshes. Unable to lure Ichabod into physical match, and uninterested in besting him intellectually, Brom soon begins to play a series of pranks on the condescending schoolmaster. Needless to say, Brom and Ichabod did not get along, but neither did Katrina discourage their rivalry nor either man’s attention. None, perhaps, more so than Abraham (Brom Bones) Van Brunt, a local hero with a reputed Herculean strength, and near legendary skill with horses. Van Tassel, and Ichabod is an outsider there are a fair number of obstacles in the way of his happily ever after. And since just about every young man in town is head over heels for Ms. But securing the affection and betrothal of a girl with such charms (and assets) as Katrina Van Tassel is never without its obstacles. Ichabod immediately begins to court her and whiles away the time fantasizing over how best to put the Van Tassel fortune to use. ![]() It is not long before the lanky Yankee becomes acquainted with, and in so doing becomes smitten with, Katrina Van Tassel, a beautiful coquettish girl, who also just happens to be the sole heir of her wealthy farmer father. However, owing to his superstitious nature and the love of old Dutch settles to spin such yarns whenever more than two are gathered together, it is not long before Ichabod becomes acquainted with, and terrified by, them all. As a new comer to the area, schoolteacher Ichabod Crane is not privy to the bevy of frightening tales, myths, or stories that have been plentiful here since before Hudson “discovered” it. A place, that has been long inhabited by Dutch settlers, who reportedly have a reputation for deep roots and unlike their American or even British neighbors do not suffer the same wanderlust that not only scatters them to the ends of the earth, but shortens their memories and robs them of their own local history. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, takes place in a quiet little village just north of Tarry Town, New York, called Sleepy Hollow in 1790. ![]()
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