![]() ![]() This autumnal classic is faithful to the original story written by Washington Irvin in 1819 and will thrill and perhaps chill your audiences (though it’s not too scary). Join Ichabod Crane, Brom Bones, the lovely Katrina Van Tassel, the residents of Tarry Town and, oh yes, the Headless Horseman, as they live the story made famous by the legend. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a short story that was published in 1820 by American author Washington Irving. ![]() The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a delightful musical play based on the classic story by Washington Irving. ![]() 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. Or perhaps a headless ghost spirited him away, as legend has it. THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW by Washington Irving FOUND AMONG THE PAPERS OF THE LATE DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER. Perhaps he was the victim of a cruel prank. Perhaps Brom had something to do with his disappearance. Whatever happened to Ichabod? No one knows for sure. His hat was found trampled on the path, and the slimy remains of a pumpkin were found nearby. After his disappearance, his horse was found grazing in a nearby pasture. He left the party wondering whether he had been the target of a cruel joke by all of the partygoers. He is also frightened by tales of spirits and strange happenings in Tarry Town. During the festivities, he was humiliated by Brom Van Brunt, Ichabod’s egotistical rival. Legend has it that he is the victim of the dreaded ‘headless horseman’ who allegedly haunts Sleepy Hollow.īefore his disappearance, Ichabod had been at a party at the home of Katrina Van Tassel, a young lady with whom Ichabod was much smitten. Ichabod Crane, a well-educated teacher who comes to live in Tarry Town, meets a mysterious fate. Buy The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories by Washington Irving from Waterstones today Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK. Supernatural tales and imaginative stories, Irving seems to say, do have their place-though perhaps only as long as we understand they’re just stories.Based on the original story by Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow tells the story of Tarry Town, a place where strange things happen and the townsfolk seem entranced by spirits. And while the story seems to admonish against taking ghost stories too seriously, this warning takes place within a version of a ghost story itself. While he does lose Katrina, we do hear a rumor that it was only thanks to the terror of the Headless Horseman that he finally left Tarry Town and, ultimately, was able to make something of his life, becoming a successful lawyer and judge. ![]() Nevertheless, the story is not entirely clear on whether Ichabod’s melding of reality and imagination is solely a weakness or a fault. Brom Bones takes advantage of Ichabod’s inability to separate reality from fiction, and plays on Ichabod’s wild imagination-indeed, Ichabod’s weakness is the reason Brom Bones ultimately wins the battle for Katrina Van Tassel. His enjoyment turns instantly to horror and fear – in other words he accepts the intrusion of these tales into his own reality. But unlike others, Ichabod is unable to accept the stories as just that-stories. He adores listening to the Dutch wives’ stories about terrifying spirits and haunting ghosts. In any case, Ichabod is especially given to this sort of fantasizing. Are people in Tarry Town simply more prone to the supernatural and the imagination? Or is there, in this odd, magical place, simply less of a distinction between the natural and supernatural? The Legend of Sleepy Hollow takes place on the eastern shore of the Hudson River valley in New York, in a town Irving writes is about three miles from Tarrytown. There is a “witching influence” that hangs over the whole of Tarry Town, one that fills it with dreams and ghost stories and is “imbibed” not only by its residents but also by anyone that tarried there for awhile. However, he is not the only one to have trouble telling fact from fiction. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” if we listen to its narrator, is only one of many tales crowding Tarry Town and especially the neighborhood of Sleepy Hollow, “one of those highly favored places which abound with chronicle and great men.” Ichabod Crane in particular falls under the influence of these chronicles until he is unable to separate reality from his imagination. ![]()
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