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THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW.

FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF THE LATE DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER.

"A pleasing land of drowsy head it was,

Of dreams that wave before the half-shut eye;
And of gay castles in the clouds that pass,

Forever flushing round a summer sky."

Castle of Indolence.

IN the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail, and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market-town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market-days. Be that as it

Castle of Indolence. A celebrated poem, published in 1748, by James Thomson, who wrote also The Seasons. Born in 1700; died 1748.

3. Tappan Zee. This is ten miles long and four wide. (Zee sea.) 5. St. Nicholas. The original St. Nicholas was bishop of Myra in Lycia. On a voyage to Palestine, it is said, a sailor was drowned, and St. Nicholas restored him to life. A dangerous storm occurred, and the sailors besought him to save them; he prayed, and the storm ceased. He is identified with the Dutch Santa Claus, and is the patron saint of children, sailors, travellers, and merchants, also of the Russian nation. St. Nicholas is very often invoked and alluded to in Irving's humorous History of New York (see Book II. Chapters 2 and 5; Book VI. Chapters 4, 8, and 9). 8. Tarrytown is twenty-seven miles from New York.

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may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it for the sake of being precise and authentic. Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles, there is a little valley, or rather lap of land, among high hills, which is one of the 15 quietest places in the whole world. A small brook glides through it, with just murmur enough to lull one to repose; and the occasional whistle of a quail or tapping of a woodpecker is almost the only sound that ever breaks in upon the uniform tranquillity.

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I recollect that, when a stripling, my first exploit in squirrelshooting was in a grove of tall walnut-trees that shades one side of the valley. I had wandered into it at noontime, when all nature is peculiarly quiet, and was startled by the roar of my own gun, as it broke the Sabbath stillness around and was pro- 25 longed and reverberated by the angry echoes. If ever I should wish for a retreat, whither I might steal from the world and its distractions, and dream quietly away the remnant of a troubled life, I know of none more promising than this little valley.

From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar char- 30 acter of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by the name of Sleepy Hollow, and its rustic lads are called the Sleepy Hollow Boys throughout all the neighboring country. A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and 35 to pervade the very atmosphere. Some say that the place was bewitched by a high German doctor, during the early days of the settlement; others, that an old Indian chief, the prophet or wizard of his tribe, held his powwows there before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. Certain it is the 40

26. Reverberated (Lat. re, back, again; verberare, to lash, strike; from verber, a lash), driven back, returned. If ever I should wish for a retreat, etc. This desire was gratified literally, when Irving was owner of Sunnyside.

39. Powwows. A powwow was a meeting held with incantations before a hunt, a council, a warlike expedition, etc., at which there were feasting, dancing, and great noise and confusion.

40. Hendrick Hudson. The distinguished navigator after whom Hud

place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvellous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The whole neighborhood abounds with local tales, haunted spots, and twilight superstitions; stars shoot and meteors glare oftener across the valley than in any other part of the country, and the nightmare, with her whole nine fold, seems to make it the favorite scene of her gambols.

The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback, without a head. It is said by some to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball, in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is ever and anon seen by the country-folk hurrying along in the gloom of night, as if on the wings of the wind. His haunts are not confined to the valley, but extend at times to the adjacent

son's Bay, Hudson's Straits, and the Hudson River were named. He discovered the river in his second great voyage, while seeking to find a northwest passage to China and India.

49. The nightmare, with her whole nine fold, etc. Nightmare is derived from Icelandic mara, a nightmare; akin to Polish mara, vision, dream; perhaps Lat. lemures, troublesome nocturnal ghosts. The nightmare was supposed to seize men in their sleep, and take away their speech and power to

move.

"Saint Withold footed thrice the wold;

He met the nightmare and her nine fold,
Bid her alight,

And her troth plight,

And, Aroint thee, witch, aroint thee."

King Lear, Act III. Sc. 4.

50. Gambols, sportful leapings. See note on this word in The Voyage, p. 3.

51. Dominant (Lat. dominari, to rule; from dominus, master), prevailing, ruling.

54. Hessian. In 1776 the British government hired of petty German princes about 16,000 troops. They were called Hessians, because most of them belonged to Hesse-Cassel, a province of Western Germany.

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roads, and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great 60 distance. Indeed, certain of the most authentic historians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting and collating the floating facts concerning this spectre, allege that the body of the trooper having been buried in the churchyard, the ghost rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head; 6 and that the rushing speed with which he sometimes passes along the Hollow like a midnight blast, is owing to his being. belated and in a hurry to get back to the churchyard before daybreak.

Such is the general purport of this legendary superstition, 70 which has furnished materials for many a wild story in that region of shadows; and the spectre is known at all the country firesides by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.

It is remarkable that the visionary propensity I have men- 75 tioned is not confined to the native inhabitants of the valley, but is unconsciously imbibed by every one who resides there for a time. However wide awake they may have been before they entered that sleepy region, they are sure, in a little time, to inhale the witching influence of the air, and begin to grow 80 imaginative, to dream dreams and see apparitions.

I mention this peaceful spot with all possible laud; for it is in such little retired Dutch valleys, found here and there embosomed in the great State of New York, that population, manners, and customs remain fixed; while the great torrent 85 of migration and improvement, which is making such incessant

62. Collating (Lat. conferre, collatum, to bring together), laying together and comparing, by examining the points in which two or more things of a similar kind agree or disagree. The word is applied particularly to passages in manuscripts and books.

70. Purport (Old Fr. pourporter, declare, make known; Lat. pro, forth, and portare, to carry), design, tendency, meaning, import.

77, 78. Every one . . . . they. Is this an error in the number of the pro

noun ?

82. Laud (Lat. laus, laudis, praise), praise, commendation.

86. Migration (Lat. migrare, to quit or leave a place), change of residence, removal.

changes in other parts of this restless country, sweeps by them unobserved. They are like those little nooks of still water which border a rapid stream, where we may see the straw and bubble riding quietly at anchor, or slowly revolving in their 98 mimic harbor, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current. Though many years have elapsed since I trod the drowsy shades of Sleepy Hollow, yet I question whether I should not still find the same trees and the same families vegetating in its sheltered bosom.

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In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy wight of the name of Ichabod Crane; who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, "tarried," in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was a 100 native of Connecticut, a State which supplies the Union with pioneers for the mind as well as for the forest, and sends forth yearly its legions of frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters. The cognomen of Crane was not inapplicable to his person. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms 105 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. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck to tell us which way the wind blew. To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the

94. Vegetating, living like vegetables or plants. The word is peculiarly appropriate to human life in Sleepy Hollow.

96. Remote period.. some thirty years since. Notice the seeming contradiction. To Irving's quiet humor thirty years is a long period in our fast American life.

98. Wight (akin to whit, a small part), a creature, person, being. The word is nearly obsolete, except in slight contempt or irony.

104. Cogno'men (Lat. con, with; nomen, name), the last of the three names which belonged to all Romans of good family; surname. 109. Snipe nose. The snipe

a small bird with a very long bill.

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