In a secluded valley of old New York there lay a quiet settlement called Sleepy Hollow, where ancient tales and fearful superstitions were believed almost as readily as Holy Scripture. Among its inhabitants was Ichabod Crane, a lank and learned schoolmaster, vain of his education yet exceedingly susceptible to every ghostly rumour whispered beside the winter fire. Ichabod set his hopes upon Katrina Van Tassel, the fair daughter of a prosperous farmer, whose beauty was rivalled in his imagination only by the wealth she might one day inherit. Yet another suitor stood in his path: Brom Bones, a bold and mischievous horseman who delighted in mocking the nervous schoolmaster. One autumn evening Ichabod attended a merry feast at the Van Tassel farm. There, amid food, dancing, and laughter, the guests exchanged dreadful stories of the Headless Horseman, the ghost of a Hessian soldier whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball during the war. Each night, it was said, the spectre rode through the valley in search of his missing head, and vanished upon reaching the old church bridge. After speaking privately with Katrina, and apparently meeting with disappointment, Ichabod departed alone through the darkened woods. Every tree and shadow seemed alive with menace. At last he heard the thunder of hooves behind him and beheld a gigantic rider mounted upon a black horse. Most terrible of all, the stranger carried his head not upon his shoulders, but before him. Wild with terror, Ichabod urged his weary horse toward the bridge, believing that beyond it the phantom could not follow. He reached the crossing—but the Headless Horseman rose in his stirrups and hurled his dreadful head at him. The next morning Ichabod had vanished. Only his hat and a shattered pumpkin were found beside the road. Some said he had fled the country in shame; others maintained that the Headless Horseman had carried him away forever. As for Brom Bones, whenever the tale was told, he would laugh in a most knowing fashion.