The classic tale of the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow which was “found amongst the papers of the late Dietrich Knickerbocker”.  Ichabod Crane was a teacher who fell in love with the daughter of a local wealthy farmer but had a rival in his courtship of her and subsequently disappeared - was the headless horseman responsible or was he not it is left to your imagination. 

 

Ichabod Crane description is to me a caricature but you can picture him in your mind: 

“He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels, and his whole frame most loosely hung together.  His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes, and a long snipe nose, so that it looked like a weather-cock perched upon his spindle neck to tell which way the wind blew.” 

 

Considering how long ago this was written 1820 I found it easy to read.  The descriptive language was very evocative you can understand how it has lasted so long.  It is much shorter than I expected only a short story really but well worth a read.