The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is one of the oldest examples of homegrown American literature, and survives to this day as a staple of the Halloween, as distinct from horror, genre. It was written by Washinton Irving in 1820, as part of his compilation of a whole bunch of things (the 1800s was a very experimental time for literature),  The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

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Plot

1n 1790, a schoolteacher from Connecticut, Ichabod Crane, settles in Sleepy Hollow, a quiet little town near Tarrytown, a former Ducth colony in Upstate New York. He is tall and gangly, superstitious, sanctimonoius, greedy, and grasping. Think baby Ebenezer Scrooge, except Scrooge was ok in his youth. Ichabod started off that way. He meets Katrina Van Tassel, the only daughter of Baltus Van Tassel, one of the wealthiest landowners in the area. Yes, Katrina is a plump lil beauty, but it is made very clear early and often that Ichabod is lusting solely after her lands, and its associated animals (which he fantasizses about cooking) and the income it generates. He conspires to become her private tutor, which Baltus allows, but he runs afoul of Abraham Van Brunt, known as Brom Bones, the town jock, essentially, who seems to have a genuine and sincere interest in Katrina. Brom is unsuccessful in blocking Ichsabod from getting near Katrina, so begins a campaign of harassment.

You know that joke about how the A Song of Ice and Fire books are just like the show, except substitute all the sex for food? That’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, too. The scene where Ichabod fantasises about the Van Tassel livestock, and later, the scene where he is invted to the harvest festival at the Van Tassel house are just *chef kiss* I once wrote a blog post about the onion sauce he described. You’re welcome.

It was at this party that Brom Bones tells the story of the Headless Horseman, the ghost of a Hessian (German soldiers hired by the British to help fight the Revolutionary War), who had been decapitated by a canonball, and who was buried in the Sleepy Hollow churchyard. Every night, he rises from the grave to search for his head, but is unable to cross an old wooden bridge, because you know, running water, etc.

At the party, Ichabod makes his intentions known to Katrina, who rejects him, because obviously lol. He borrows a Van Tassel horse, Gunpowder, the decomissioned plow horse, and sets off home. Riding past the churchyard, he hears hoofbeats and turns to find a cloaked rider behind him. The rider gives chase, but Ichabod makes it to the wooden bridge just as the Horseman throws his head at him.

The next morning, they find old Gunpowder chill as anything, grazing in front of the Van Tassel house. No sign is ever found of Ichabod Crane, save for his hat, which was found beside the shattered remains of a pumpkin, beside the old bridge. Katrina marries Brom Bones, who is assumed to have been the rider in disguise.

Characters

Ichabod Crane, as I mentioned before is a very Scrooge-like character. Obviously, this story is a cautionary tale against gullible people who are also greedy and who kigh key suck as people. In contrast to later portrayals as a misunderstood nerd or dashing hero of the Revolution, the book version of Ichabod is an opportunistic creep. He doesn’t care about his pupls, his eyes are for the mothers who cook for him. Also, let’s not forget that Katrina was his student- which is an unhealthy relationship to begin with, but in the 1790s, a girl nearing the end of her schooling would have been in her mid-to-late teens. That’s not unusual for the time, but it is still gross.

No sympathy for Ichabod Crane.

Brom Bones, on the other hand, is often portrayed as a bully, and…I don’t see why. He’s a prankster, sure, but he’s a teenage boy. Also, it is implied that he is roughly Katrina’s age, and there is a never any mention that he is interested in her money. It doesn’t mean that he isn’t of course, but his motives seem to be personal. Because, remember, Brom was invited to the same parties Ichabod was, he was part of the community. Imagine you’re a seventeen-year-old boy, say, and this much older weirdo comes into town, lusting after this girl you grew up with, and not even for her personally, but for her money, and pretty blatantly at that. I think chasing the old lech and throwing a pumpkin at him, on the scale of things that qualify as bullying, isn’t really that bad. And in the end, he married Katrina, which means Baltus must have approved of him.

Justice for Brom Bones.

Katrina, the…heroine? Love interest? Katrina doesn’t really do much, to be honest. She seems to be a competent student, and she definitely has enough spine to turn down a gross proposal, so that’s good. Of course, we only see her through Ichabod’s eyes, and what he sees is a rich girl who isn’t bad to look at. I wonder what we’d see from Brom’s perspective. Maybe I should write that story.

Better yet, what would we see from HER perspective?

Why I love it so goddamn muchThis is on my bed, right now.

Now, I know you’re thinking, ‘Avon, this short story is over 200 years old- I know you didn’t just discover it.’ And no, of course not. In fact, it has been a very special story to me for a long time. I read it every October, as a ritual to get myself into the spooky spirit, and I am often so re-inspired by it that I ask my mother to cook me something Dutch and/or colonial for my birthday (October 23).

In fact, I was in this inspiration soup when I joined Scribophile, an online community of writers, back in the fall of 2014. I took the name Avon Van Hassel. I wanted to pay homage to Katrina Van Tassel, but not take her name, and I found the equally Dutch name, Van Hassel, related to the Lower Saxony (I have some ancestry from the area of the Dutch/German border region) town, Hassel, which in turn, gets its name from a hazel tree. Hazel trees have the distinction in Celtic mythology for imparting wisdom, most notably to the Salmon of Wisdom. There are also a couple of Grimms tales that involve a hazel tree.

Avon is the anglicised form of afon, the Welsh word for river. I’ve always thought it would make a lovely name, especially since some of my favourite cities in England are found along the Avon River. Yes, the River Avon means the River River. And just to clear it up, yes, I know that Stratford-Upon-Avon and Bath are on different Avons. Such is the nature of loanwords. They’re all good. All Avons are the goodest Avons.

Anyway, on Scribophile, you can’t change your name once you’ve committed. The idea is to build brand recognition connected to your name. Well, I workshopped Magic Beans on Scrib, so when I published, I did so with my usename, so my fellow Candied Sea Urchins could find me. And here we are today.

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So yeah, if you haven’t read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I recommend giving it a read or a listen. It’s pretty short, so you can knock it out in an afternoon and set yourself up for the seaon. But I do suggest you have a plate of treats nearby, it’s going to make you hungry.