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00:00 Old Icky, if you recall, was the country schoolmaster, dreamed up by Washington Irving.
00:06 Oh, he had a way with the yarn, did Mr. Irving?
00:10 If we could but journey back to that remote period in American history, when the city of Manhattan was but a market town,
00:21 we would discover in the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the shores of the Hudson, the little village of Tarrytown.
00:30 And just beyond, nestled deep in the low rolling hills, the sequestered glen.
00:37 It's a quiet, peaceful place, and yet somehow foreboding.
00:43 For it abounds in haunted spots, twilight tales, and local superstitions.
00:48 The best known story, however, concerns a certain itinerant schoolmaster who once frequented these parts.
00:56 Indeed, some say his melancholy spirit still haunts the vicinity.
01:01 The worthy pedagogue was described as a most unusual man.
01:06 To see him striding along, one might well mistake him for some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.
01:13 He was tall, but exceedingly lank.
01:18 His head was small, and flat on top with a long, sniped nose, so that it looked like a weathercock perched upon his spindle neck.
01:28 Altogether, he was such an apparition as is seldom to be seen in broad daylight.
01:40 It was late one drowsy autumn afternoon when this strange figure first approached the tranquil little village of Sleepy Hollow.
01:50 As usual, there had forgathered a gee old schnooker and schnap-shappy, a group of rustic lads known as the Sleepy Hollow Boys.
02:03 Their self-appointed leader, one Brom Bones, was a burly, roistering blade, always ready for a fight or a froth.
02:11 And though Brom was much given to madcap pranks and practical jokes, still there was no malice in his mischief.
02:24 Indeed, with his waggish humor and prodigious strength, Brom Bones was quite the hero of all the country round.
02:31 (laughing)
02:33 Ah, it's Bodkin's gadzooks.
02:55 Look at that old spook of spooks.
02:58 (laughing)
03:00 Who's that coming down the street?
03:08 Are they shovels or are they feet?
03:11 Clean and lanky, skin and bone, with bows to scare crow with hay to roam.
03:18 Yet he has a certain air.
03:21 Debonair and devil may care, it's the new schoolmaster, Percy's name.
03:28 Ichabod, Ichabod Quain.
03:31 Ichabod, what a name.
03:34 Kind of odd, but nice just the same.
03:38 Funny pen, funny frame, Ichabod, Ichabod Quain.
03:44 Ichabod may be quain, may be odd and may be he ain't.
03:50 But anyway, there's no complaint from Ichabod, Ichabod Quain.
03:57 And though the arrival of the pedagogue gave rise to mixed emotions,
04:03 the townspeople all agreed they'd never seen anyone like Ichabod, Ichabod Quain.
04:14 The schoolroom became Ichabod's empire, over which with lordly dignity he held absolute sway.
04:22 Truth to say, Ichabod was a conscientious man, never bore in mind the golden maxim,
04:32 spare the rod and spoil the child.
04:35 Still, he was careful to administer justice with discrimination,
04:41 for it behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils,
04:45 especially if their mothers happened to be good cooks.
04:49 Who's the town's ladies' man?
05:01 Gets around like nobody can.
05:04 Has to be none other than Ichabod, Ichabod Quain.
05:11 Thus, as time went by, it may be seen that the pedagogue got on tolerably enough.
05:17 Moreover, Ichabod found diverse ways to increase his slender income
05:23 and at the same time, awaken the cultural interests of the sleepy little village.
05:30 [siren]
05:34 [siren]
05:38 [humming]
05:47 [humming]
05:51 [humming]
05:55 [humming]
06:01 [humming]
06:07 [humming]
06:12 [howling]
06:19 [howling]
06:22 [humming]
06:29 It was inevitable that such a man as Ichabod would become an object of ridicule to brown bones in his gang.
06:36 And yet, to Ichabod, these were small matters.
06:40 Indeed, the schoolmaster possessed a remarkable equanimity which remained quite undisturbed
06:45 until that fateful day when his path was crossed by a woman.
06:50 A certain woman.
06:54 Katrina Van Tassel, daughter and only child of old Baltus Van Tassel, the richest farmer in the county.
07:01 She was a blooming lass, plump as a partridge, ripe, melting, and rosy-cheeked.
07:10 [howling]
07:15 [howling]
07:19 Once you have met that little coquette Katrina, you won't forget Katrina.
07:33 But nobody yet has ever upset Katrina, that cute coquette Katrina.
07:44 You can do more with Margaret or Helena, or Ann or Angelina.
07:56 But Katrina will kiss and run to her a romance's fun, always another one to start.
08:08 Yet when you've met that little coquette Katrina, you've lost your heart.
08:23 [music]
08:27 Now there was no doubt that fair Katrina was the richest prize in the countryside.
08:45 And the schoolmaster, being an ambitious man, at once began to fill his mind with many sugared thoughts and hopeful suppositions.
08:54 Ah, Katrina, my love, who can resist your grace, your charm, and who can resist your father's farm?
09:07 [whistling]
09:09 Boy, what a setup. There's gold in them acres, isn't there, ain't there?
09:14 [chimes]
09:17 Not to mention that lovely green stuff.
09:21 [humming]
09:23 Ah, Katrina, my sweet, my treasure.
09:31 Treasure.
09:33 [laughing]
09:34 That barn's a gold mine.
09:36 How I'd love to hit the jackpot.
09:38 [chimes]
09:41 My dear Katrina, Papa's only child.
09:45 Papa?
09:47 Well, the old goat can't take it with him, and when he cuts out, that's where I cut in.
09:54 Sweet Katrina, poor little rich girl.
09:59 But don't worry, Katie, Ickabod will protect you.
10:04 Ah, yes, Katrina, you've won me.
10:07 I surrender.
10:09 [chimes]
10:13 And yet when you met that little go-get, Katrina,
10:19 [splat]
10:20 you lost your heart.
10:28 Truth to say, every portal to Katrina's heart was jealously guarded by a host of rustic admirers.
10:35 But Ickabod was confident he'd soon ride roughshod over these simple country bumpkins.
10:42 The most formidable obstacle of all, however, the schoolmaster had failed to reckon with.
10:48 That was the redoubtable Brom Bones himself.
10:52 Now the ease with which Brom cleared the field of rivals both piqued and provoked the fair Katrina.
11:05 And she often wished that some champion would appear and for once take the field openly against the boisterous Brom.
11:13 [music]
11:20 [music]
11:24 [music]
11:47 [chimes]
11:49 [music]
11:53 Though a wiser man would have shrunk from the competition, love we say is blind,
12:02 Ickabod was aware only that dame fortune was at last thundering at his door.
12:08 [music]
12:12 [music]
12:17 [music]
12:21 [music]
12:25 [music]
12:29 [music]
12:33 [music]
12:37 [music]
12:42 [music]
12:45 It's true that Brom liked to joke as well as the next, but enough was too much.
12:50 [music]
12:54 [music]
12:58 [music]
13:02 [music]
13:06 (HORN HONKING)
13:07 (HORN HONKING)
13:08 (HORN HONKING)
13:14 (HORN HONKING)
13:15 (THUNDER RUMBLING)
13:16 (THUNDER RUMBLING)
13:17 (SQUEAKING)
13:30 (SQUEAKING)
13:31 (SQUEAKING)
13:32 (SQUEAKING)
14:00 (SQUEAKING)
14:01 (CLICKING)
14:04 It's time to carry the issue to open warfare.
14:08 Why, he'd double that schoolmaster up
14:10 and lay him on a shelf in his own schoolhouse.
14:12 (CHUCKLING) But this, it seemed, was easier said than done.
14:27 Yeah.
14:28 Yoo-hoo!
14:34 (WHISTLING)
15:01 No doubt of it, this was Ichabod's lucky day.
15:04 Now, it was evident the schoolmaster was indeed a man of hidden talents,
15:15 and a rival to be reckoned with.
15:17 Still, wars are neither won nor lost at the first encounter.
15:22 The high-flying pedagogue might yet be brought to earth,
15:26 for Brom Bones was never a man to cry quips.
15:30 (MUSIC PLAYING)
15:31 It was upon the occasion of her father's annual Halloween frolic
15:40 that Katrina again chose to stir the embers of the smouldering rivalry.
15:43 Thus, one invitation in particular
15:46 carried a most personal and provocative summons.
15:49 (HUMMING)
15:53 (HUMMING)
15:54 The worthy schoolmaster was in a transport of joy.
16:04 To him, this could mean but one thing.
16:07 (CHUCKLING)
16:09 "Icky you, sly old dog, you.
16:11 "What is this strange power you have over women?
16:14 "Well, tonight's the night, boy.
16:17 "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
16:20 "Just turn on the old charm,
16:22 "and the fair Katrina is yours for the asking."
16:24 (HUMMING)
16:25 So gaily bedecked,
16:33 and nobly mounted upon a horse he had borrowed for the occasion,
16:36 Ichabod issued forth like a knight-errant of old
16:40 to keep at rest with his lady fair.
16:42 (WHISTLING)
16:46 (WHISTLING)
16:47 In all the countryside,
16:51 there was nothing to equal a merrymaking
16:53 at my near Van Tassel's farm.
16:55 To Ichabod, here was a perfect field for his endeavours.
16:59 How indeed would he put his best foot forward.
17:03 For beyond all his other talents,
17:05 the schoolmaster prided himself upon his dancing.
17:08 The unhappy Bram, already bested at every turn,
17:14 saw himself once more outmatched.
17:16 For as he watched the posturing pedagogue,
17:20 he was forced to admit that here,
17:22 here was a flawless picture of ease and grace.
17:26 (MUSIC PLAYING)
17:28 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:30 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:32 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:33 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:38 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:45 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:55 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
17:56 (LAUGHING)
18:12 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
18:20 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
18:21 (LAUGHING)
18:29 (LAUGHING)
18:36 (LAUGHING)
18:37 (LAUGHING)
18:51 (LAUGHING)
19:04 (LAUGHING)
19:05 (THUD)
19:16 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
19:18 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
19:22 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
19:29 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
19:30 (THUD)
19:36 (YELPING)
19:37 (YELPING)
19:39 (YELPING)
19:41 (THUD)
19:43 (YELPING)
19:49 (THUD)
19:53 (YELPING)
19:55 (MUSIC CONTINUES)
19:56 (APPLAUSE)
20:03 There was no doubt that Ichabod was the man of the hour.
20:06 Brom knew that he must concede his rival, still another victory.
20:10 And yet, there was still a chance his time would come.
20:13 For when the hour grew late,
20:16 Van Tassel always called upon his guest to tell him ghostly tales of Halloween.
20:21 And Brom knew there was no more firm and potent believer in spooks and goblins
20:27 than Ichabod Crane.
20:29 Just gather round and I'll elucidate on what goes on outside when it gets late.
20:42 Long about midnight, the ghosts and banshees, they get together for their nightly jamboree.
20:48 There's things with horns and sorcery, some with fangs about this size.
20:54 Some are fat and some are thin.
20:57 And some don't even wear their skin.
21:00 Oh, I'm telling you, brother, it's a frightful sight to see what goes on Halloween night.
21:06 (SCREAMING)
21:07 When spooks have a midnight jamboree, they break it up with English glee.
21:17 Ghosts are bad, but the one that's cursed is the headless horseman.
21:22 He's the worst.
21:23 That's why he's a ghost on Halloween night.
21:26 But when he goes a-jogging across the land, holding a noggin in his hand,
21:33 demons take one look and groan and hit the road for parts alone.
21:39 Beware, take care, he rides alone.
21:42 And there's no spook like Spook-It-Spur.
21:45 They don't like him and he's really burnt.
21:48 He swears to the longest day he's dead.
21:51 He'll show them that he can't get ahead.
21:55 They say he's tired of his flaming top.
21:59 He's got a yen to make a swap.
22:02 So he rides one night each year to find a head in the hollow hair.
22:08 Now he likes 'em little, he likes 'em big.
22:11 Or in the middle, or awake.
22:15 Black or white or even red.
22:18 The headless horseman needs a head with a hip, hip and a grippity clop.
22:24 He's out looking for a cop-chop.
22:27 So don't stop to figure out a plan.
22:30 You can't reason with a headless man.
22:36 Now if you doubt this tale is so,
22:39 I met that spook just a year ago.
22:42 Now I didn't stop for a second book.
22:45 But came for the bridge that spans the brook.
22:48 But once you cross that bridge, my friend,
22:51 The ghost is through his power and
22:54 So when you're riding home tonight,
22:57 Make for the bridge with all your might.
23:00 He'll be down in the hollow there.
23:03 He needs your head to look out, beware.
23:06 With a hip, hip and a grippity clop.
23:09 He's out looking for a head to swap.
23:12 So don't try to figure out a plan.
23:15 You can't reason with a headless man.
23:25 It was the very witching hour of night that Ichabod pursued his travel homeward.
23:33 The sky grew darker and darker as one by one the stars weeped out their lights.
23:38 Driving clouds obscured the moon from sight.
23:42 Never had the schoolmaster felt so melancholy.
23:46 So utterly alone.
23:49 And the nearer he approached the hollow, the more dismal he became.
23:54 (Whistling)
23:57 (Whistling)
24:01 (Whistling)
24:04 (Whistling)
24:14 (Whistling)
24:26 (Whistling)
24:29 Once inside the murky glen, Ichabod's anxiety increased a hundredfold.
24:42 For now, the forest seemed to close in behind him.
24:46 Every small detail of Brahms' awful story returned to haunt his recollection.
24:53 (Footsteps)
24:56 (Whistling)
25:01 (Roaring)
25:22 (Screaming)
25:25 (Screaming)
25:29 (Growling)
25:42 (Groaning)
25:52 (Groaning)
25:55 (Screaming)
26:20 (Groaning)
26:23 (Screaming)
26:40 (Screaming)
26:47 (Growling)
26:50 (Screaming)
26:59 (Growling)
27:14 (Screaming)
27:17 (Laughing)
27:25 (Laughing)
27:28 (Laughing)
27:35 (Laughing)
27:47 (Laughing)
27:50 (Laughing)
27:57 (Laughing)
28:03 (Laughing)
28:15 (Screaming)
28:18 (Screaming)
28:31 (Screaming)
28:34 (Screaming)
28:46 (Screaming)
28:59 (Screaming)
29:02 (Screaming)
29:15 (Screaming)
29:24 (Screaming)
29:27 Once you cross that bridge, my friends, the ghost is through. His power ends.
29:36 (Screaming)
29:39 (Screaming)
29:44 (Screaming)
29:51 (Laughing)
29:54 (Laughing)
30:21 (Grunting)
30:24 (Screaming)
30:37 Next morning, Ichabod's hat was found.
30:46 And close beside it, a shattered pumpkin.
30:50 But there was no trace of the schoolmaster.
30:54 It was shortly thereafter that Brown Bones led the fair Katrina to the altar.
31:03 Now, rumors persisted that Ichabod was still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county.
31:11 But of course, the good Dutch settlers refused to believe such nonsense.
31:16 For they knew the schoolmaster had been spirited away by the headless horseman.
31:22 (Laughing)
31:25 (Singing)
31:44 Man, I'm getting out of here.
31:47 (Music)
31:50 (dramatic orchestral music)