The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Book excerpt: Ichabod Crane is the teacher of the community of Tarrytown, in Sleepy Hollow (literally "Hollow of Dream"), a valley on the banks of the Hudson. His antagonist is Bran Bones, a big rude man, who is also his rival in love with Katrina Van Tassel, the only daughter of a wealthy landowner. Ichabod believes he will achieve glory the day that Van Tassel invites him to a party in his "castle" ... but what he does not know is that what awaits him there is damnation, because in the enchanted forests of the "region of the Slumber "wanders the specter of the Headless Horseman," a Hessian cavalryman beheaded by a cannonball in some nameless battle of the Revolutionary War "and Ichabold will have an encounter with him that will change his fate. The classic Arthur Rackham illustrations that accompany this edition brilliantly evoke its charm, mystery and irony and were largely the visual inspiration for Tim Burton's 1999 film adaptation.