Rip Van Winkle & Other Stories: Library Edition

by Washington Irving, Donada Peters (Narrator)

You are probably familiar with the popularized stories "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," but have you heard the original unabridged versions by Washington Irving? His skillfully written and colorful tales have much more meaning and depth. In "Rip Van Winkle," Irving makes a profound social comment about the changes that were happening in his America, and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" isn't just a chilling tale about the Headless Horseman but an enchanting story about two rival suitors. Equally enjoyable tales of suspense and the supernatural included in this collection are: -"The Spectre Bridegroom" -"The Adventure of the German Student" -"The Devil and Tom Walker" -"The Adventure of the Mason" -"Legend of the Rose of Alhambra" -"The Governor and the Notary" -"Governor Manco and the Soldier" This collection will demonstrate just why Washington Irving is widely recognized as the "Father of American Literature."

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Childrens, Literature, Audiobook

5 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 1820

About the author

People remember American writer Washington Irving for the stories " Rip Van Winkle " and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ," contained in The Sketch Book (1820).

This author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century wrote newspaper articles under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle to begin his literary career at the age of nineteen years.

In 1809, he published The History of New York under his most popular public persona, Diedrich Knickerbocker.

Historical works of Irving include a five volume biography of George Washington (after whom he was named) as well as biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and several histories, dealing with subjects, such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra, of 15th-century Spain. John Tyler, president, appointed Irving to serve as the first Spanish speaking United States minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

Reviews

[Anna P (whatIreallyRead) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sought out this collection of stories because it contains The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I saw the movie with Jonnie Depp back in the day and was curious to read the classic story that inspired it. I enjoyed reading the stories! They gave me a cozy, nostalgic feeling, as classic children's ghost stories often do 🙂 The writing is a bit simple and naive but I think it added charm to the stories.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first American writer with his classic American folktales. Irving has a large vocabulary, indicative of his time, but his writing was very easy for me to get through and was quite enjoyable.

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle" actually take place in America (or, I suppose, the New World). These two have the most compelling premises and Irving concentrates on the setting and atmosphere to great effect. As a result, he's created a rich glimpse into early American identity.

As a literature nerd, I feel lucky to have read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" while sitting in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. I learned about Irving's life while taking a nighttime tour of the cemetery and visiting his grave.

"The Spectre Bridegroom" takes place in Germany, and "The Pride of the Village" takes place in Britain. They are weaker stories, with less plot development and thinner characters. "Mountjoy" does take place in the Hudson Valley, but there is almost no setting description. The whole thing basically takes place in the character's head, and there is no ending.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a challenge, have not read these since high school. Really enjoyed them

[Vatikanska Milosnica · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. Rip Van Vinkl
2. Legenda o Sanjivoj dolini
3. Neke crte indijanskog karaktera
4. Filip od Poukanouketa
5. Debeli gospodin

[Brian Pate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful stories by one of America's first authors. Irving creates relatable characters that help us laugh at the silliness and shallowness in all of us.

"Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" are among his most famous, but the other stories in this book -- "The Spectre Bridegroom," "The Pride of the Village," and "Mountjoy" -- were also a delight from start to finish.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes 5 short stories. Refreshed my memory of Rip Van Winkle and Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Had never read Specter Bridegroom, Pride of the Village, or Mountjoy but they were interesting.

Mostly, Irving used so many wonderful words that you don't hear in conversations anymore. I found myself looking up their definitions in the hope I can throw those words out there for my kids ;-)

[Christine Lucia Asha · Rating 3 out of 5]

MUST READ BOOKS in every genre:
Thriller Say Goodbye
Memoir The Yellow House
SciFi Murder by Memory
Romance Time Loops & Meet Cutes

[Lindsay B · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, I didn't actually finish this. I only read Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. They were so boring.

[Carrie Brownell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I purchased this book years ago with the idea of reading it during the month of October. Octobers came and Octobers went and I never manged to get to it. Until now. Other than being familiar with the Disney cartoon version of The Legend of Sleepy Hallow and reading picture books of Rip Van Winkle as a child, I have had no real exposure to Washington Irving. I have to say that I have missed out!

Irving is a witty story teller and I very much enjoyed this book. Do not let Disney provide for you your Irving education! (You can enjoy Disney too though... I don't mind.) This book was good fun. And I have a new, jolly author to enjoy!

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed "Rip Van Winkle" and "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" but I found the other stories to be a little dull. This could very well be because the narrator was somewhat dull and I often found my mind wandering.

[Ben Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Washington Irving Collection

Rip Van Winkle 4/5 I love Irving's voice, and I love the way he captures a man who just doesn't love his wife. It was really funny. It's also one of the more interesting takes on "time travel" I've read in a story. It's got this magical charm to it.
Sleepy Hollow 5/5 This has a sense of whimsy to it like Rip Van Winkle. Still hate Ichabod, foul little cretin, but I kinda love Brom, he sounds like a total pain in the arse but like a likeable one. Ichabod creeping on women will always make me hate the wretch. You can see how Irving pulled from Tam O'Shanter (which is still my fav version of a tale like this) but his twist and grasp of words is just a wonderful. Ive really enjoyed this a lot more since the last time I read it.
The Inn Kitchen - Unrated. This wasnt as much a short story as advertised and instead the framing device for the next stories.
The Spectre Bridegroom 5/5 A classic ghost story. It felt like a grandparent or pub storyteller recounting it to you. Its really melancholic, and it was more a sad ghost story than a spooky one. But then that ending came around and I smiled ! I love the way Irving twists his horror tales in a certain way. I think this will be added into my rereads of short stories for the future.
The Pride of The Village 3/5 Interesting concept but far too short.

[Zach · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good collection of stories. Here are my top 3 in this collection:

1) "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" - It's a fun story that's just as much about rival suitors as it is about the Headless Horseman. Irving's vivid fall setting in the Hudson Valley is excellent and made for great October listening.

2) "Governor Manco and the Soldier" - This is one of two stories featuring Governor Manco and set in Granada, Spain, in and around the Alhambra fortress. It features a legend of an enchanted Moorish army awaiting Allah's command to retake the Iberian Peninsula. I found that legend to be poignant given the influx of Muslim immigration and consequent growth of Islam in Europe - including Spain - in recent decades.

3) "Rip Van Winkle" - This is obviously another fun story. While I expected Rip to fall asleep, I did not expect him to encounter Henry Hudson and his crew in his dreamlike state. That was interesting, as was Rip's experience getting used to life after his return. I also did not expect Rip's poor relationship with his wife. Like Sleepy Hollow, this story is set in the Hudson Valley among the descendants of Dutch settlers. I have found that setting to be really interesting. The credit goes to Irving for painting it so well.

[Mortisha Cassavetes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Washington Irving is one of my all time short story authors and so for the month of October I had to reread some of his classics. This book is a collection of his great works of folklore which I just love. Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Specter Bridegroom, The Pride of The Village and Mountjoy! I love them all and definitely recommend them. A wonderful book to read around the Autumn/Halloween season.

[Mariah Dawn]

Third time through these stories. My son says, “He was a wordy fellow.” He gives this book three and a half stars. ☺️

[Kasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are pretty much the foundation of American literature, and the more I read 'em the more I like 'em. Irving's prose and humor is perfectly suited to short stories, and I honestly feel he is an underrated writer on an aesthetic level or what have you. The other three stories are a mixed bag. The Spectre Bridegroom is a fun little tale, but The Pride of the Village is just so bland and tropey. I'd never read Mountjoy before (or even heard of it), but I really liked it and thought it was a lot of fun and very funny. It reads like the first chapter of a novel more than a short story, and I really wish Irving had gone on to write that novel.

[Matt Prevedel · Rating 4 out of 5]

While they may not be the most in-depth stories ever written, they are very entertaining and readable.

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice selection of Irving's short work from the very dark "The Pride of the Village" to the very funny not quite coming of age story, "Mountjoy". The funny "Sleepy Hollow" , "Rip Van Winkle" and ghostly"The Spectre Bridegroom" complete this collection.

[Melany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall I didn't like his writing style, I didn't really like that he was the narrator telling you a story instead of you being in the story and most of his stories just rubbed me the wrong way. I really didn't like the way he talked about women. They were all "sweet untouched flowers" or "old ugly shrew"

Rip Van Winkle: Wow this was strange. I didn't get the point was it just suppose about doing anything to get away from your wife? He was a lazy young man that would do literally anything to not do any of his own work and one day goes for a walk and meet a strange man who gives him a strange drink and makes Rip Van Winkle sleep for 20 (or around that) years. I mean he slept through his wife's death and felt relieved. I didn't get it nor did I like it!

The Spectre Bridegroom: This one was cute. It is a story of a misunderstanding where a groom heading to meet his future bride is killed and using his dying breath to tell another man to tell the family of his bride to be that he has died and while that man goes to deliver his messages is mistaken for the groom. After meeting the young girl that the dead man was to marry he fell in love with her. I think the story would have been better if the reader didn't know from the beginning that the man who went to meet with the family wasn't the intended bridegroom and if the reader was ticked into think he was actually a ghost.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: This was nothing like how I thought it would be! I have seen adaptions of this story and they make it seem more like a ghost story than it actually is! It's all just a prank because two men were fighting over which would marry the heiress. This took too long to get to the point and Ichabod only really thought about food.

The Adventure of the German Student: Um ok necrophilia, why?

The Devil and Tom Walker: I liked this one it about if you are a shitty person going to church won't save you from the devil if you continue to be a shit person, you have to do good works to be a good person.

The Adventure of the Mason: I liked this one, it shows that sometime it pays to do just an honest day's work (and then some shady shit)

The Legend of the Rose of Alhambra: I kinda like this one it was a love story kinda, it was about a girl who is heartbroken getting a magic lute that wins her fame and reunites her with her true love. It was kinda cute but I think she forgave her lover way too quickly

The Governor and the Notary: Didn't get this one at all.

Governor Manco and the Soldier: I didn't get the point the soldier was imprisoned for making an outrageous story about how he ends up with some money and ends up seducing the Governor handmaiden to get out and runs away with her. It was meh

[Syed Ali Hussain Bukhari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories
By: Washington Irving

This edition, from the "father" of American literature, contains the following classic short stories:
Rip Van Winkle,
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,
The Spectre Bridegroom,
Mountjoy.

The first two stories have some touch of the supernatural. For example, Rip Van Winkle meets a strange man in the forest and helps him bring the wine kegs to his fellowmen, where he drinks and falls asleep for about twenty years. While, in Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane comes across a legendary spectre of headless horseman; when he was returning depressed after being rejected by a fair young lady.

The Spectre Bridegroom was short and romantic in its own way.

Whereas in Mountjoy, a youth of nearly twenty describes his indlugences for Metaphysics and Philosophy, where he thinks himself a great philosopher till he persues the love of his imaginary lady and finally meets her, thanks to the destiny. And when he discusses his ideas and doctrines with her and her family, especially his father, he gets to know that he is standing mere at the threshold of knowledge and he has a long way to seek it further in a systemmatic way.

Overall, it was somewhat an average read and enjoyable.

[Paul Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story collection here. I will have to look further into the father of American Literature for more extensive exposure. "Rip..." and "Sleepy Hollow" I was, or course, familiar with but the other selections not. They contain involved descriptions of upstate New York and the Hudson region long ago, during the time of the Dutch settlers, but after our Revolution. Two other shorts take place back in Europe.

Some quotes to remember:

"Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals of foolish, well-oiled dispositions who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound."

"Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age, and a shad tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use."

"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 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 neighbourhood 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 ninefold, seems to make it the favourite scene of her gambols."

"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 imaginative - to dream dreams and see apparitions."

"...for it is in such little retired Dutch valleys, found here and there embosome4d in the great State of New York, that population, manners, and customs remain fixed; while the great torrent of migration and improvement, which is making such incessant changes in other parts of this restless country, sweeps by them unobserved. Theya re 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 mimic harbour, undisturbed by the rush of the passing current."

"Besides, there is no encouragement for ghosts in most of our villages, for they have scarcely had time to finish their first nap and turn themselves in their graves before their surviving friends have travelled away from the neighbourhood; so that when they turn out at night to walk their rounds they have no acquaintance left to call upon. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear of ghosts except in our long-established Dutch communities."

"The sequestered situation of this church seems always to have made it a favourite haunt of troubled spirits. It stands on a knoll, surrounded by locust trees and lofty elms, from among which its decent whitewashed walls shine modestly forth, like Christian purity beaming through the shades of retirement."

"On that side of the road where the brook entered the wood, a group of oaks and chestnuts, matted thick with wild grapevines, threw a cavernous gloom over it. To pass this bridge was the severest trial. It was at this identical spot that the unfortunate Andre was captured, and under the covert of those chestnuts and vines were the sturdy yeomen concealed who surprised him. This has ever since been considered a haunted stream, and fearful are the feelings of the schoolboy who has to pass it alone after dark."

"He never even talked of love; but there are modes of making it more eloquent than language, and which convey it subtilely and irresistibly to the heart. The beam of the eye, the tone of the voice, the thousand tendernesses which emanate from every word and look and action - these form the true eloquence of love, and can always be felt and understood."

"I pictured to myself, with curious logic, the form of the unseen musician. Such melodious sounds and exquisite inflections could only be produced by organs of the most delicate flexibility. Such organs do not belong to coarse, vulgar forms; they are the harmonious results of fair proportions and admirable symmetry. A being so organized must be lovely."

"...poetry is one of the most pleasing studies that can occupy a youthful mind. It renders us susceptible of the gentle impulses of humanity, and cherishes a delicate perception of all that is virtuous and elevated in morals, and graceful and beautiful in physics."

"Mr. Somerville had mingled much with the world, and with what is termed fashionable society. He had experienced its cold elegancies and gay insincerities; its dissipation of the spirits and squanderings of the heart. Like many men of the world, though he had wandered too far from nature ever to return to it, yet he had the good taste and good feeling to look back fondly to its simple delights, and to determine that his child, if possible, should ne4ver leave them."

"I have had many opportunities of seeing the progress through life of young men who were accounted geniuses, and have found it too often end in early exhaustion and bitter disappointment; and have as often noticed that these effects might be traced to a total want of system. there were no habits of business, of steady purpose, and regular application, superinduced upon the mind; everything was left to chance and impulse, and native luxuriance, and everything of course ran to wasted and wild entanglement."

[Jojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book for my daughter who likes spooky stories. I remembered my father reading The Legend of Sleepy Hallow to me when I was a child and being terrified by it (he also read us Rip Van Winkel, which I remembered as being less scary. I tried to read it to her on Halloween night and she fell asleep in about 2 minutes, so I continued to read the stories to myself. I had forgotten (or more likely I did not then realize) how wonderfully humorous and not at all scary the stories are. The language and humor are probably a bit difficult for even a really smart 9-year old, so I probably won't try to read these with her just yet. But I definitely enjoyed reading this collection of stories.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this audio book up from the library because one of the short stories on it was The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is our bookclub selection for the month. I enjoyed the entire collection of short stories on this CD; they were lightly spooky and a perfect Halloween-time read. I really liked Washington Irving's writing style, and I could just imagine readers in his day delightfully frightened at his suspenseful and clever stories and anticipating new releases. He has a way of writing in which the reader feels like he is hearing the story told by an actual witness of events. I particularly liked the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and I appreciated reading the original story that has inspired so many adaptations.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been letting people vote on what I listen to in the car. I'll give 3 or 4 choices and a couple days on Facebook, and then pop in whatever the consensus is.

I think I would have liked Washington Irving quite a bit more if I would have read him instead of listened to him. There were several points where I lost focus early on, tried backing up the CD, promptly lost focus again, and remained lost the rest of the way through.

I enjoyed immensely those stories with which I was already familiar: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Devil and Tom Walker, and Rip Van Winkle.

I'll come back and give the other stories a chance sometime. I just have to remember to sit down and read them.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Washington Irving's writing style! I generally enjoy works from around this period because they are so eloquent and melodic without simply being verbose for the sake of being verbose. I actually read a horror story!! lol And there is a horror story that isn't a horror story!! Can it get better than that? And you come away finally knowing the story of Rip Van Winkle! Overall for me a very enjoyable read.

[Godly Gadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic folk tales from the father of American literature. (5 stars)

Washington Irving’s (1783-1859) claim to fame is as a pioneer of American fiction, and he is widely recognized as the “father of American literature.” The book that especially propelled him to fame was “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” which contained his two most famous fantasy stories – “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” – both of which are contained in this collection.

But it is not merely his ground-breaking efforts that garnered him literary recognition, because Irving’s stories are at the same time characterized by charming and colourful prose befitting a skilled writer. The stories in this collection (the “Puffin Classics” series) are an excellent sampling of his craft. It’s not always easy reading – in fact many of these stories would be too dense even for older children. His vocabulary is extensive, and sentences structure verbose and lengthy – a style rather unlike that employed by contemporary writers. But despite this, Irving demonstrates a wonderful command of the English language, and has the ability to create a vivid picture of his setting, characters and events. Particularly delightful is the attention he devotes to describing his characters. And yet his stories are far from mere character portraits – they are exciting and enchanting tales that make the reader eager to find out the outcome.

“Rip Van Winkle” has gained the status of a classic, and is familiar to most children, but likely few have read Irving’s original. It breathes an authenticity and air not found in the contemporary abridged versions of the story. Irving presents his tale as the alleged discovered manuscript (complete with postscript) of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker. The delightful story of Rip Van Winkle - who fell asleep in the Catskill mountains after drinking a mysterious brew acquired from some strange little men, and then awoke 20 years later - will continue to please readers old and new. In the course of the story, Irving makes a profound social comment about the changes happening in his America.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is renowned for its chilling tale of the Headless Horseman, and is a Halloween favorite. Actually, however, it is much more than that. It is not so much a spooky tale of a legendary village ghost as it is a colourful tale about two rival suitors. Ichabod Crane is a simple school teacher who is in love with Katrina Van Tassel, and equally in love with the estates of her father, a wealthy Dutch farmer. His counter-part is the powerful local hero Bram Bones, whose affections for Katrina mirror those of Ichabod Crane, and who is determined to put an end to the affections of underdog Crane by a mysterious and elaborate trickery. As is evident also in his other stories, it is particularly fascinating how Irving exploits the supernatural superstitions of the popular mind to create a sense of mystery and fear, but himself gives a naturalist explanation that rises above such popular notions by explaining the supernatural with natural events.

Though lesser known, the other three stories in the “Puffin Classics” collection are equally enjoyable. “The Spectre Bridegroom” is one of the most fascinating tales in the collection. A young man is mistaken for a bridegroom and received into the castle of a wealthy baron as the husband of the baron’s daughter. But before the marriage can be consummated, the bridegroom dashes off, and the baron’s family hears shortly afterwards that he’s been killed. But then who appears again except the bridegroom – or is it his ghost? – to steal his bride and vanish once more! In the end, it is a satisfying tale more of brilliant scheming than of ghosts – although the fearful superstitions of the general public about the supernatural play an important role in the effective execution of these schemes.

“The Pride of the Village” is the tragic tale of a young lady whose heart pines in love for an army officer who has deserted her, only to die at his feet when he returns.

“Mountjoy” is a wonderful study of an apparently incurable romantic, described by Irving as a “Castle-Builder”. When Mr. Mountjoy discovers a delicate footprint on a sandy shore, his passion for metaphysics, creativity and romance leads him to dream up an imaginary beautiful young maiden, and he promptly fall passionately in love with the nymph of his dreams. The air castle he builds and its accompanying romanticism is crushed numerous times, even drowned, but each time is renewed and revived, just when it seems that “the cobweb romance I had been spinning” would be demolished completely. In the end Mr. Mountjoy meets the girl of his dreams, only to discover that his air castles need to be reshaped once more, and in the end, destroyed completely.

Readers used to the easy diet of modern fiction will find the pioneering work of Washington Irving rather tough to chew on. But those who delight in tasting words, biting on imaginative characters and settings, with a few sips of suspense and supernatural in the process, will discover that Washington Irving’s stories are just the literary serving they are renowned to be: a classic. Irving won’t please all children of the modern era. But children of literature who have acquired a fine literary taste will find that despite the heightened language of his time, Irving is still digestible and enjoyable.

[Kingfan30 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found it interesting the story that gives its name to this book was one of the shorter ones. I have to say I liked the idea behind the first few stories but I just couldn't get my head round the writing style, my just wanted to wonder. I read all the stories but feel maybe I should give them another chance at some point.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

“She felt a conviction that she was hastening to the tomb, but looked forward to it as a place of rest.”

I have a bit of a sore throat from reading these stories aloud in a husky (and excellent) American accent. Note to self: cease and desist from doing this in future.

Washington Irving is regarded as a pioneer and founding father of American literature. This collection contains four stories from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon (serialised 1819-1820) - ‘Rip Van Winkle’, ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, ‘Spectre Bridegroom’, and ‘Pride of the Village’; and another, longer story, ‘Mountjoy’, written in 1818 but, after his friends looked bored when Irving started reading it to them, was put aside and didn’t see the light of day until 1839. It’s the first two stories, ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘Sleepy Hollow’, on which Irving’s fame primarily rests today.

Both these two famous stories are set in Irving’s home country, with which he was most familiar: the wooded hills of New England, gorgeously described: the shores of the Hudson River, the Catskills, and the little villages of the vicinity. It’s depicted as a beautiful but spooky, spirit-haunted landscape. Both stories, too, feature reprehensible heroes: Van Winkle helps everybody but himself and his own family; Ichabod Crane is greedy, ruthlessly mercenary, and habitually violent to the children and animals under his care.

‘Sleepy Hollow’ bears little relation to the 1999 Tim Burton film - only the setting, the name of the main character, and the spectre of the headless horseman are the same. The excellent Disney short of 1949, though, is a remarkably faithful adaptation.

The Van Winkle story is remarkably similar to the ancient Japanese folk story, ‘Urashima Tarō’ (which is in fact what first drew me to this book). In Irving’s story, Van Winkle does even less to deserve his terrible fate than Urashima Tarō - he merely drinks some of the wine belonging to the company of phantom midgets that abduct him and force him into servitude. Van Winkle, though, is less troubled by the consequences than Urashima Tarō is - in fact he seems quite happy at having aged 20 years in the blink of an eye, once his family and the village are reconciled to taking care of him.

‘Spectre Bridegroom’ is a cleverly handled tale with a German setting. The narrative expertly manipulates the reader into believing that there is no ghost, then that there is a ghost, and then that there isn’t again. In fact, though three of the stories here have a supernatural bent, only one (‘Rip Van Winkle’) is (probably) a true tale of the supernatural.

‘Village Favourite’ is a surprise - a simple nonentity of a tale about a young girl who wastes away and dies when her lover abandons her. ‘Mountjoy’ is an amusing and lively story of a pretentious, scholarly young man who gets romantic ideas about love when he starts reading novels. It happens to the best of us.

All the stories here are told with a light humour that never lags, and which prevents things from getting too dark. They’re also wonderfully easy to read, considering their age, proving that authors from this period didn’t have to be verbose and use extremely long sentences.

Again, the descriptions of scenery, and especially the effects of natural light on that scenery, are absolutely beautiful here, and I think it’s this feature that may leave the most lasting impression on me.

[Lisa M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, I've lived in the North East my entire life. Not just that, I live like, right there. I drive through Tarrytown/ Sleepy Hollow like, every week during the summer months. And yet, somehow, I never knew that Washington Irving's stories took place here. Like, I know the story of Sleepy Hollow, but I kind of figured it was like the same way that every town has a Main Street, and everywhere has some sort of town called Franklin something or other. I sort of figured like, yeah there's a story about Sleepy Hollow, but not this Sleepy Hollow." But nope, turns out I was just ignorant.

Hell, I didn't even know they were based in the US. What I knew about the story of Rip Van Winkle was that some guy fell asleep by a tree, then woke up years and years later. So it was a nice little surprise to see that it was someone who fell asleep in England's colonies, slept through the American Revolution, then woke up in a free America. What a wild thing.

And the headless horseman is like a world known story! It's got it's versions across folklore from everywhere, but the Sleepy Hollow version is one of the better known ones, I think. And I just had no idea that these where stories from here. They're weird stories, yeah, but they're maybe the first bit of (post-colonization) American folklore we have, and it tickled my fancy to look into stories from that time period more. I think the media exposure we mostly have from then is more along the lines of stuff like Hamilton--just these big, sweeping, grandiose tales that usually focus on the political changes from people higher on the social ladder. But these are the stories of the average person, living in what was still mostly woods, scary and untamed and misunderstood. These stories just do a great job of showing us how stories traveled back then, from town to town, based largely on something he heard from someone who heard it from this person, who heard it from someone from this town who heard it from his sister, etc, etc... Until they just blow up into what is essentially a fantastical version of a popular rumor, before becoming cemented as these founding stories.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most people are familiar with with the story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow especially around Halloween. Then comes the story of Rip van Winkle. The remaining three stories: The Spectre Bridegroom, The Pride of the Village and Mountjoy.

The Spectre Bridegroom has the spooky feeling that the title conveys although there is a sad circumstance, it ends with a happily-ever-after.

The Pride of the Village was a typical story. Nothing surprising.

Mountjoy was basically a first-person character relating how intelligent and well-educated he is. He is an arrogant twit - for the most part - happily living in the delusion of his own superiority.

The overall style of narration seemed to drift off into side trips that seem like more extraneous wordage than actually necessary to the development of the story. But that is more likely due to the time-period Irving was writing in.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quick paced read.

It’s a mix of folk stories from the early U.S. and from Spain. I knew Rip van Winkle and Ichabod Crane from my childhood, but never straight from the author’s own words. The early stories are good for pretty much any age, maybe depending on the sensitivities of the child and how they would feel about headless horsemen and people making deals with the devil, but to me it was a pretty gentle level of creepy. The latter stories mig not hold younger kids’ attention quite so well, but they’re still interesting. I’d let my older kids read/hear any of them, but might just stick with Rip and Ichabod for the ones under 10.

I find that I like Washington’s writing quite bit, he’s pretty straightforward and to the point with his storytelling, but can be a little more flowery and pretty with his descriptions and vocabulary, maybe somewhere between Twain and Dickens.