A Satire on the Gothic Tale BEFORE READING Look carefully at the painting above of a farm in the vicinity of the village of Sleepy Hollow and answer the questions. a. What things in the painting tell you that the story takes place in 1799? b. From what you can see, what do you think the village of Sleepy Hollow is like? What do you think the villagers are like? c. What (if anything) do you know about the American short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ? The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving: 1783-1859, called the first American man of letters There is a little valley among high hills which is one of the quietest places in the whole world. From the silence of the place and the peculiar character of its inhabitants (descendants from the original Dutch settlers), this it has long been known by the name of SLEEPY HOLLOW. A dreamy influence seems to hang over the land and to pervade the very atmosphere. Certain it is, the place is still under some strange power that holds a spell over the minds of the module 12 Unit good people there. They are subject to marvellous beliefs, to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air. The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is a figure on horseback, without a head. It is said to be the ghost of a Hessian soldier, whose head had been carried away by a cannon-ball in some battle during the Revolutionary War, and who is seen hurrying along in the night, as if on the wind. Some of the most authentic historians of those parts, who have been careful in collecting the facts concerning this spectre, say that the ghost rides out in a nightly search for his head: this is the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow.