Washington Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820. It is a haunting tale about a thin and timid teacher named Ichabod Crane, who has a terrifying encounter with the legendary Headless Horseman. In this passage, Ichabod is leaving for a party on an old, borrowed horse.Ichabod was a suitable fi gure for such a steed. He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like grasshoppers’; he carried his whip perpendicularly in his hand, like a sceptre, and as his horse jogged on, the motion of his arms was not unlike the fl apping of a pair of wings. A small wool hat rested on the top of his nose, for so his scanty strip of forehead might be called, and the skirts of his black coat fl uttered out almost to the horses tail. Such was the appearance of Ichabod and his steed as they shambled out of the gate of Hans Van Ripper, and it was altogether such an apparition as is seldom to be met with in broad daylight