The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Washington Irving · 1820
This book is rated All ages. It isn't available on your library card.
In a drowsy Dutch valley on the Hudson, the lanky schoolmaster Ichabod Crane courts the rich farmer's daughter -- until a moonlit ride home brings him face to face with the valley's famous ghost, the Headless Horseman.
A gently spooky tale: the Headless Horseman is eerie but never gruesome.
Characters
Ichabod Crane
The lanky, superstitious Connecticut schoolmaster who eats like an anaconda, sings psalms through his nose, and trembles at every owl's hoot.
Katrina Van Tassel
The rosy, flirtatious eighteen-year-old daughter of a rich Dutch farmer, and heiress to the orchards that make Ichabod's mouth water.
Brom Bones
The big, roaring local hero who rides like a Tartar, plays rough pranks, and wants Katrina all for himself.
The Headless Horseman
The ghost of a Hessian trooper who gallops out of the churchyard each night to hunt for the head he lost to a cannonball.
Baltus Van Tassel
Katrina's easygoing, well-fed father, who smokes his pipe, keeps a lavish table, and leaves the young people to their courting.
The Old Farmers
Drowsy, pipe-smoking Sleepy Hollow elders who swear the valley is bewitched and trade ghost tales and war boasts by the fire.
About the story
Ichabod Crane, a lanky, superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, comes to teach in Sleepy Hollow, a drowsy Dutch farming valley near Tarry Town on the Hudson River. The valley is known for ghost stories, and the most famous is the Headless Horseman: the ghost of a Hessian trooper who lost his head to a cannonball in the Revolutionary War and rides out each night looking for it. Ichabod loves these tales and believes every one of them. He also falls for Katrina Van Tassel, the lively daughter of a rich farmer, and for her father's well-stocked farm. That brings him up against Brom Bones, a big, boisterous local hero who wants Katrina for himself.
The story is set in the countryside of New York a generation after the Revolution. Irving fills it with harvest fields, groaning Dutch tea-tables, fiddle music and fireside legends. Under the humor, it looks at rivalry, greed, vanity and how easily fear runs away with the imagination.
First published in 1820 in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., it is one of the earliest American short stories still widely read today. Its comic characters, its mix of laughter and chills, and its autumn setting have made it a lasting Halloween favorite that has been retold many times on stage and screen.
This is a condensed picture-book retelling in 32 illustrated pages, with about 9 minutes of synthetic-voice narration and AI illustrations drawn for this edition. Irving's full original story is in the public domain, free to read, and well worth reading too.
Adapted from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (1820), public domain.
Questions
What is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow about?
A superstitious schoolmaster named Ichabod Crane tries to win the heart of a wealthy farmer's daughter in a quiet Dutch valley in New York. The valley is said to be haunted by a headless ghost on horseback, and Ichabod has a burly rival named Brom Bones.
Who is the main character in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?
The main character is Ichabod Crane, a tall, gangly schoolteacher from Connecticut who loves food and ghost stories. The other central figures are Katrina Van Tassel, Brom Bones, and the legendary Headless Horseman.
Is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow suitable for children?
This edition is rated for all ages. It has a spooky ghost-story atmosphere and a thrilling night ride, but no graphic violence, and much of the tale is gentle comedy, so it suits most children as well as teens and adults.
How long does this edition take to read or listen to?
The narrated picture-book edition runs about 9 minutes across 32 illustrated pages.
Is this the full text of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow?
No. This is a condensed retelling that keeps the main story and some of Irving's own phrases. The complete original story is in the public domain and free to read.
Read the text version: every page's caption, with its picture, on one page.
