The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
written by Washington Irving
rewritten by Sean Fitzpatrick
Ichabod (pronounced ICK-UH-BOD) Crane was a school teacher who
lived in the quiet town of Sleepy Hollow, New York. Ichabod Crane was a
tall, skinny, goofy-looking guy who was, sadly for him, not very popular
with the ladies. There was only one girl that Ichabod was interested in
impressing, though: Katrina Van Tassel.
Every guy in Sleepy Hollow wanted Katrina Van Tassel; she was a totally
hot blonde, and Ichabod didn’t stand much of a chance of winning her
over. There was one thing that Ichabod was good at, though: he was an
awesome dancer. So you can imagine how excited Ichabod was when he
heard that there was going to be a dance at Katrina Van Tassel’s house.
“Awesome,” thought Ichabod, “now I can show Katrina my moves.”
Ichabod rode his horse slowly through the forest that afternoon, enjoying
the autumn weather and looking at the beautiful scenery. He was so
happy thinking about how he was going to impress everyone at the dance
tonight and finally win the heart of his love, Katrina. After his quiet ride,
Ichabod arrived at the huge mansion where Katrina lived. More guests
arrived and soon the party started.
One of the things that the people of Sleepy Hollow loved to do was tell
ghost stories, and every time that a large number of people gathered in
Sleepy Hollow, somebody was bound to tell ghost stories. This party was
no exception. The men told scary stories, hoping to scare one of the girls
at the party, so she would cling to him for protection. A few stories were
told about different ghosts and goblins, but there was one story that
everyone was waiting to hear: the story of the Headless Horseman. Every
time people told ghost stories in Sleepy Hollow, someone always told the
story of the Headless Horseman, and it scared people so much that they
never got tired of hearing it. One of the reason people loved the story of
the Headless Horseman was because he was believed to live near Sleepy
Hollow, and that made the story more real and frightening. Some of the
older people in town had claimed that they had actually seen the Headless
Horseman, and had been lucky to escape with their lives.
After everyone’s favorite ghost story had been told, the band began to
play, and people started to dance. Ichabod finally worked up the courage
to ask Katrina to dance, and the two of them danced for hours. Katrina
was extremely impressed at Ichabod’s moves. Even the cool, buff guys
were jealous of him that night.
Finally, late that night, the guests started leaving the party, and Ichabod,
sad that the best night of his life was now over, left the party as well. None
of the other guests lived near him, so soon Ichabod was riding his horse,
through the forest alone.
Ichabod was tuning out the clop, clop, clop noise of his horses hooves,
and was lost in his thoughts about his night with Katrina, when he heard a
noise that came from behind him. He looked back, but seeing nothing, he
turned around again. “Must be a squirrel,” he thought to himself, and
chuckled. But, as he rode on, Ichabod still heard something behind him.
He stopped his horse and listened, and then distinctly heard the sound of
horse hooves running toward him. Ichabod knew that nobody, except
him, had any reason to be on this path in the middle of the forest at night,
and so, scared, Ichabod kicked the ribs of his horse and his horse took off
at a gallop. But Ichabod still heard the other horse coming from behind
him, and from the sound, he could tell the horse was getting closer.
Ichabod turned around to try to get a look at whoever was following him.
He glanced around quickly, and saw a black shadow. The sound of the
other horse’s hooves hitting the path got louder and louder. Ichabod
turned around, and there, right behind him, riding a pitch-black horse,
was a man, dressed in black, with a black cape. The man had no head.
Ichabod looked back again at the headless man who was gaining on him,
and saw that he had his head sitting right in front of him in the saddle.
Ichabod kicked the ribs of horse as hard as he could, but the horse could
go no faster.
Ichabod Crane found comfort in one thing. In the ghost story, the
Headless Horseman could not enter the town of Sleepy Hollow, and now,
Ichabod Crane was leaving the forest and could see the town a few
hundred yards in front of him. If he could only make it to the bridge that
connected the forest and the town of Sleepy Hollow, he would surely be
okay.
The Headless Horseman caught up to Ichabod, and he lifted his head
into the air with his right hand. Ichabod could now see that it wasn’t a
head at all, but a pumpkin with a face carved into it. Just at this moment,
Ichabod reached the bridge that led to the quiet, safe town of Sleepy
Hollow. The Headless Horseman came to sudden stop, and Ichabod
knew that he would be safe. But just then, the Headless Horseman threw
his pumpkin at Ichabod, hit him in the head, and knocked him and his
saddle right off of the horse.
The next morning, the people of Sleepy Hollow found a horse roaming
around the town without a saddle. The children went to school, and they
waited and waited, but their teacher, Mr. Crane, didn’t show up. And one
of the town’s workers complained loudly as he cleaned a smashed, carved
pumpkin on the Sleepy Hollow Bridge.
No one ever saw Ichabod Crane again.
1. How do you know that this story was written by an American?
2. What do you think happened to Ichabod Crane?
3. Did you enjoy this story? Why or why not?