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 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 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 .
I recollect that , when a stripling , my first exploit in squirrel-shooting 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 prolonged 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 character 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 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 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 ninefold , 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 roads , and especially to the vicinity of a church at no great 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 , 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 , 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 mentioned 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 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 of migration and improvement , which is making such incessant 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 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 .
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 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 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 weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell 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 genius of famine descending upon the earth , or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield .
His schoolhouse was a low building of one large room , rudely constructed of logs ; the windows partly glazed , and partly patched with leaves of old copybooks .
It was most ingeniously secured at vacant hours , by a withe twisted in the handle of the door , and stakes set against the window shutters ; so that though a thief might get in with perfect ease , he would find some embarrassment in getting out , -- an idea most probably borrowed by the architect , Yost Van Houten , from the mystery of an eelpot .
The schoolhouse stood in a rather lonely but pleasant situation , just at the foot of a woody hill , with a brook running close by , and a formidable birch-tree growing at one end of it .
From hence the low murmur of his pupils ’ voices , conning over their lessons , might be heard in a drowsy summer ’s day , like the hum of a beehive ; interrupted now and then by the authoritative voice of the master , in the tone of menace or command , or , peradventure , by the appalling sound of the birch , as he urged some tardy loiterer along the flowery path of knowledge .
Truth to say , he was a conscientious man , and ever bore in mind the golden maxim , “ Spare the rod and spoil the child . ”
Ichabod Crane ’s scholars certainly were not spoiled .
I would not have it imagined , however , that he was one of those cruel potentates of the school who joy in the smart of their subjects ; on the contrary , he administered justice with discrimination rather than severity ; taking the burden off the backs of the weak , and laying it on those of the strong .
Your mere puny stripling , that winced at the least flourish of the rod , was passed by with indulgence ; but the claims of justice were satisfied by inflicting a double portion on some little tough wrong-headed , broad-skirted Dutch urchin , who sulked and swelled and grew dogged and sullen beneath the birch .
All this he called “ doing his duty by their parents ; ” and he never inflicted a chastisement without following it by the assurance , so consolatory to the smarting urchin , that “ he would remember it and thank him for it the longest day he had to live . ”
When school hours were over , he was even the companion and playmate of the larger boys ; and on holiday afternoons would convoy some of the smaller ones home , who happened to have pretty sisters , or good housewives for mothers , noted for the comforts of the cupboard .
Indeed , it behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils .
The revenue arising from his school was small , and would have been scarcely sufficient to furnish him with daily bread , for he was a huge feeder , and , though lank , had the dilating powers of an anaconda ; but to help out his maintenance , he was , according to country custom in those parts , boarded and lodged at the houses of the farmers whose children he instructed .
With these he lived successively a week at a time , thus going the rounds of the neighborhood , with all his worldly effects tied up in a cotton handkerchief .
That all this might not be too onerous on the purses of his rustic patrons , who are apt to consider the costs of schooling a grievous burden , and schoolmasters as mere drones , he had various ways of rendering himself both useful and agreeable .
He assisted the farmers occasionally in the lighter labors of their farms , helped to make hay , mended the fences , took the horses to water , drove the cows from pasture , and cut wood for the winter fire .
He laid aside , too , all the dominant dignity and absolute sway with which he lorded it in his little empire , the school , and became wonderfully gentle and ingratiating .
He found favor in the eyes of the mothers by petting the children , particularly the youngest ; and like the lion bold , which whilom so magnanimously the lamb did hold , he would sit with a child on one knee , and rock a cradle with his foot for whole hours together .