One autumn afternoon, Ichabod Crane was in his school. The students were very quiet. Suddenly, a man arrived on a horse. He invited Ichabod Crane to a party at the Van Tassel house.
The students were very happy because Ichabod Crane let them go home early. Ichabod Crane spent a long time getting ready. He cleaned his only black suit.
He wanted to look like a brave knight. He borrowed an old horse from a farmer named Hans Van Ripper. The horse’s name was Gunpowder.
Gunpowder was old and thin. He had a white head and a long tail. He was blind in one eye. But Gunpowder was once a fast horse. Ichabod Crane rode Gunpowder toward the party.
Ichabod Crane looked very strange on his horse. He rode with short stirrups (metal loops for a rider’s feet). This made his knees sit very high. His elbows moved out like the legs of a grasshopper.
He held his whip straight up in his hand. His arms moved like wings when the horse walked. He wore a small wool hat on his head. His long black coat fluttered in the wind behind him.
Ichabod Crane and his horse, Gunpowder, left the gate of Hans Van Ripper. They looked like a strange ghost in the bright daylight. It was a beautiful autumn day.
The sky was clear and blue. The forest was full of brown and yellow leaves. Some trees were bright orange and purple because of the cold. Wild ducks flew high in the sky.
Squirrels made noise in the nut trees. You could hear the whistle of birds in the fields. Small birds were eating and flying from tree to tree.
There were red robins and many blackbirds. There were woodpeckers with red heads and beautiful feathers. There were also blue jays in bright blue coats. They made loud noises and moved their heads up and down.
Ichabod Crane rode slowly. He looked at all the food on the farms. He saw many apples on the trees. Some apples were in baskets for the market.
Others were in big piles to make cider (a drink made from apples). He saw big fields of corn and yellow pumpkins. He thought about eating delicious pumpkin pies.
He passed fields of buckwheat. He thought about eating pancakes with butter and honey. He hoped Katrina Van Tassel would cook these for him with her own hands.
Ichabod Crane felt very happy. He rode through the hills near the Hudson River. The sun began to go down in the west. The water was very quiet and smooth.
A few gold clouds floated in the sky. The horizon changed from gold to green and then to deep blue. The sun touched the tops of the tall rocks near the river.
He saw a sloop (a small ship with one mast) far away. It moved slowly with the water. The sail did not move because there was no wind. The ship looked like it was hanging in the air.