American author,short writer,essayist,poet,travel book writer,biographer,and coinmnist. Irving has been called the father of the American short story.he is best known for“The legend of sleepy hollow.”A history of New York纽约外史Bracebridge Hall布雷斯里奇庄园The life of George Washington华盛顿传Rip Van Winkle普瑞。凡。温克尔The legend of sleepy hollow睡谷的传说The sketch book见闻札记Ichabod Crane-the teacher in the village, a cowardKatrina Van Tassel-the only daughter of a rich farmer, the one Ichabod loves Brom Bones-a strong young man, a hero to all the young ladies There were many stories in the quiet valley-Sleepy Hollow. But the story that people believed most was about a man who was headless, rode a horse at night. He rode through the valley, looking for his lost head. Near Sleepy Hollow was a village called Tarry Town. The village had a small school. And Ichabod Crane was the only teacher in it. Ichabod did not make much money as a teacher. And although he was tall and thin, he ate like a fat man. To help him pay for his food he earned extra money teaching young people to sing. Every Sunday after church Ichabod taught singing.Among the students Ichabod taught was Katrina Van Tassel. She was the only daughter of a rich Dutch farmer.Ichabod soon found himself interested in Katrina . But there was also another strong young man named Brom Bones loved Katrina. Ichabods eyes opened wide when he saw the riches of Katrinas farm: the miles of apple trees and wheat fields, and hundreds of fat farm animals. He saw himself as master of the Van Tassel farm with Katrina as his wife. So Ichabod made his plan silently and secretly-visited Katrinas farm and made her think he was helping her to learn better.One day Ichabod was invited to a big party at the Van Tassels home. He dressed in his best clothes. A farmer loaned him an old horse for the long trip to the party. Brom Bones also rode to the party on his fastest horse. Ichabod was happy dancing with Katrina as Brom looked at them with a jealous heart. When the music stopped, young people sat together to tell stories about the Sleepy Hollow. And the most feared story was about the rider looking for his lost head。The stories ended and time came to leave the party. Ichabod seemed very happy until he said goodnight to Katrina. Was she ending their romance? He left feeling very sad. Had Katrina been seeing Ichabod just to make Brom Van Brunt jealous so he would marry her? He leaves alone.He thought theres something white moving in the tree. And he heard a noise. Ichabod saw a headless rider on the horse. On the side of the river stood an ugly, big and black thing. It looked like a giant monster His head was resting on the horse. Ichabod kicked and hit his old horse with all his power. Ichabod looked back to see if the headless man had stoppedThe headless man picked up his head and threw it to Ichabod. It hit Ichabod in the face and knocked him off his horse.Next day, people only found Ichabods hat. They believed the headless horseman had carried Ichabod away.Much later an old farmer returned from outside and said he saw Ichabod. He thought Ichabod silently left Sleepy Hollow because he had lost Katrina.As for Katrina, her mother and father gave her a big wedding when she married Brom Bones. Many people who went to the wedding saw that Brom smiled whenever Ichabods name was spoken. And they wondered why he laughed out loud when anyone talked about the broken orange pumpkin found lying near Ichabods old dusty hat.