Many years ago, a man named Ichabod Crane lived in Sleepy Hollow. He was a schoolmaster (a male teacher). He came from Connecticut. He moved to Sleepy Hollow to teach the children.
Ichabod Crane was very tall and very thin. He had narrow shoulders and long arms and legs. His hands were very large. His feet were as big as shovels.
Ichabod Crane had a small, flat head. He had huge ears and large green eyes. His nose was long and thin. He looked like a scarecrow (a model of a person, put in a field to frighten birds) that escaped from a cornfield.
His schoolhouse was one big room. It was made of logs. The windows were small and broken. He fixed the windows with paper from old books. The school stood near a hill and a small stream.
Ichabod Crane was a strict teacher. He believed that he must hit children to make them learn. He used a rod (a long stick used for hitting) on the students. But he was not a cruel man.
He only punished the strong children. He did not hit the weak children. He told the students he did this because he loved them. He said they would thank him when they were older.
Ichabod Crane was very poor. He did not have much money for food. He ate a lot of food, but he stayed very thin. He lived in the houses of the farmers.
He stayed at a different house every week. He carried all his clothes in a large cloth. He helped the farmers with their work. He cut wood for the fire and took the horses to water.
He also helped the mothers with the children. He sat with the babies for many hours. This made the mothers like him. They gave him good food to eat.
Ichabod Crane was also a singing teacher. He taught the young people how to sing in church. He was very proud of his voice. People could hear him singing from far away.
The women in the town liked Ichabod Crane. He was a gentleman and he was very smart. He read many books. The other men in the town were rough and simple.
Ichabod Crane loved to walk with the young women. He picked fruit for them and told them stories. The simple country men were jealous of him. They did not like Ichabod Crane.
Ichabod Crane was a "traveling newspaper." He moved from house to house and told everyone the local news. He also loved to read a book about witchcraft (magic used by witches). He believed every story in the book.
He loved to read these scary stories after school. He sat by the brook and read until it was dark. Then he had to walk home. Every sound made him afraid.
He heard birds and insects in the dark woods. He thought they were ghosts. He sang church songs to feel brave. The people in the town heard him singing on the dark roads.
On winter evenings, Ichabod Crane sat with the old Dutch wives. They sat by the fire and cooked apples. They told stories about ghosts and the Headless Horseman. Ichabod Crane told them stories about witches too.
But Ichabod Crane was very afraid when he walked home after these stories. The snow looked like ghosts. The wind sounded like the Headless Horseman. He was terrified of the dark.