The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

On the east side of the Hudson River, in the state of New York, the river grew very wide. The old Dutch sailors called this wide part the Tappan Zee. On its shore stood a small market town. Its name was Tarry Town. The women of the nearby farms gave it this name, people said. On market days their husbands liked to tarry, or stay too long, at the village inn. The wives had to wait for them, and they were not pleased.

About two miles from Tarry Town, there was a little valley between high hills. It was one of the quietest places in the whole world. A small stream ran through it. Its soft sound could send a person to sleep. Now and then a bird called, or a woodpecker tapped on a tree. Apart from that, everything was still.

On a summer day at noon, the woods were completely silent. If a hunter fired his gun at a squirrel, the sound rolled around the hills for a long time. It was almost frightening. A tired man from the busy world could sit under those trees and dream his life away.