The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Trivia Quiz

Answer: Diedrich Knickerbocker

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a part of Irving's "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.", which he wrote under the pen name Geoffrey Crayon. Published in seven parts from June of 1819 to September of 1820, "The Sketch Book" would first begin printing just shy of ten years after another popular Irving work, "A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty" (or simply "A History of New York"), which he first published in December of 1809 under the pen name Diedrich Knickerbocker. Knickerbocker's "A History of New York" is also known as "Knickerbocker's History of New York" and the "Knickerbocker Tales."

"The Sketch Book" features what are perhaps Irving's two best known short stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle". Both of these, Irving (as Geoffrey Crayon) makes clear, are supposed to be posthumous works by Knickerbocker. In fact it is in the introduction to "Rip Van Winkle" that Crayon states Knickerbocker died just after his "A History of New York" was published. Irving himself did not pass away until 1859.

As for Tom Walker, he's one of the tite characters in Irving's short story "The Devil and Tom Walker"

Answer: Abraham Van Brunt

Irving explains that Brom Bones' given name is Abraham Van Brunt, with the Dutch abbreviation for Abraham being Brom. The nickname Brom Bones is said to have been given to Brom both for his muscular body, which is said to resemble that of Hercules from Greek and Roman myth, and also for his powerful arms and legs.

Answer: Hans Van Ripper

Hans Van Ripper is described by Irving as a choleric old Dutchman whose wrath Ichabod fears when he loses his Sunday saddle. Because the school teacher was staying with the Van Rippers when he vanished, Van Ripper was made the executor of his estate, which wasn't really that much. All the school teacher had for an estate was two and a half shirts, one or two pairs of worsted (smooth woolen) socks, a broken pitch pipe, a couple of neck stocks, a rusty razor, and a book of psalm tunes. Ichabod didn't own any of the school books or furniture in the school house, but it can be assumed that he did keep a few of his personal books there, these being Cotton Mather's "History of New England Witchcraft" (which Irving also calls Cotton Mather's "History of Witchcraft"), a "New England Almanac", and a book on dreams and fortune telling. These books Van Ripper saw as books of magic, so he burned all of them, the only books from the school house he burned.

Ichabod had made attempts to write poems to Katrina in the book of dreams and fortune telling, so these, too, were lost when the book was burned.

Answer: Gunpowder

Gunpowder, who had been Van Ripper's favorite mount when the horse was younger, served primarily as Van Ripper's plow horse by the time the story takes place. He was said to be ewe-necked (that is, to have a thin-concave neck) with a hammer like head, a rusty mane, one eye pupil-less and spectral while the other had the gleam of a devil in it, and a tail which was tangled and knotted. Irving claims that the only thing Gunpowder hadn't yet outlived about himself was his own viciousness.

Answer: False

Only half of this is descriptive of Katrina, that being Irving describing her as "a blooming lass of fresh eighteen." The other half is descriptive of the baron's daughter in "The Specter Bridegroom", another of the stories in "The Sketch Book."

Katrina is something of a coquette, meaning she likes to flirt. She wears a dress that's a mixture of old and new in fashion with a petticoat short enough to show off her ankles. Clearly, from the mention of it, this is something that for the time period being depicted (and maybe when Irving wrote the story) might have been considered scandalous for a young woman to do. The ornaments she wears to accompany the dress are a pure yellow gold which had been brought over by her great-great grandmother. And she wears a tempting stomacher, which is an embroidered garment worn over the chest typically by women.

Irving physically describes her as having rosy cheeks comparable to those of her father's peaches, plumb as a partridge, and having the prettiest foot and ankle in the area.

Answer: Connecticut

Irving describes Connecticut at the time the story takes place as a state which supplied the nation with pioneers of both the mind and the forest. He further asserts that the state yearly sent forth frontier woodmen and country schoolmasters.

Answer: "Being as dexterous on horseback as a Tartar"

Of all the things Ichabod is known for, being a skilled horseman is not one of them. In fact Irving would say of the school teacher that he was an unskillful rider.

Physically he's something of a comical figure. He's got long arms and legs with a body which is tall and extremely lank. His hands hang a mile out of his sleeves, suggesting his jacket is small on him. His green eyes are large and glassy. His head is small and flat topped with enormous ears and a long nose. In fact his head is said to look like a weathercock. Irving suggests that if you saw him at a distance you'd think he was either a scarecrow or "the genius of famine."

As for "being as dexterous on Horseback as a Tartar" Irving is actually describing Ichabod?s rival, Brom Bones.

Answer: Old Brouwer

On the fateful night Ichabod meets with the Horseman many tales have been told, some concerning things said to have taken place during the revolution, some of which were ghost stories. Brom Bones tells the story of having a race with the Headless Horsemen, but it is only in the tale of old Brouwer that we see anyone mentioned as having actually ridden with the Horseman.

In it old Brouwer met the Horseman when the latter was returning from one of his nightly visits to Sleepy Hollow and he was forced by the spook to get up behind him for a fast-paced ride all over the area until they reached the bridge over the brook which led to the churchyard where the Horseman tethered his horse. Upon reaching this bridge he turned into a skeleton and threw old Brouwer into the brook.

From the fact that Irving specifies the "tale was told of old Brouwer" instead of told by old Brouwer himself, we can only assume someone else was telling the tale.

Answer: Ichabod Crane

Irving states that several years had passed since the fateful night Ichabod vanished when the farmer returned from the city with news concerning Ichabod. He had various jobs including school teacher while studying law, wrote for newspapers, became a politician, and a Justice of the Ten Pound Court, which is a kind of small claims court.

However, Irving gives the final say on the fate of the protagonist to the old country wives, who believe that Crane was caught and taken away by supernatural means. And, according to Irving, they are the best judges in such matters as Ichabod's disappearance.

Answer: None

When she is introduced, Katrina is said to be the daughter and only child of a wealthy Dutch farmer. It's therefore of little wonder that Crane sees himself becoming Van Tassel's heir should he marry his daughter.

Answer: Daredevil

Besides Gunpowder, Daredevil is the only horse in the story to be mentioned by name. The description given of Daredevil suggests that Brom may have admired Hans Van Ripper. It is said that Daredevil is a bit like Brom himself, and that only Brom could ride the horse as he was the only one who could manage him.

Answer: It's here that the Headless Horseman always disappears

In both tales, upon reaching the bridge the Headless Horseman disappears. But it would have done Ichabod well to remember both tales instead of just Brom's, as then he might not have turned around to watch the Horseman disappear in a flash of fire and brimstone after he crossed the bridge.

This is because both tales suggest he never disappears the same way twice, or you can never predict exactly how he'll disappear. In Brom's tale of his race with the Horseman, upon reaching the bridge the Horseman bolted then in a flash of fire he disappeared.

As mentioned, this was the tale Ichabod remembered when he crossed the bridge. And yet Ichabod had also heard the tale of old Brouwer, where, after turning into a skeleton and throwing his rider into the brook, the Horseman disappeared by springing over the tree tops with a clap of thunder.

Answer: Bewitched by a high German doctor

Irving gives two trains of thought on the "drowsy, dreamy influence", as he calls it, that affects even the atmosphere in the valley. The first is bewitchment by a German doctor when the settlement was still new. The second is that an Indian chief who was, according to Irving, either the prophet or the wizard of his tribe, held his powwows in the valley long before Henry Hudson discovered it.

As for the schoolmaster Van Bummel, he's actually mentioned in "Rip Van Winkle" when Rip asks where he is.

Answer: Ohio

When he imagines himself married to Katrina, he pictures them having a family which are all on a wagon as it is "setting out for Kentucky, Tennessee" or Lord knows where." It is interesting that in this picture he sees himself astride a mare with her colt nearby. Ichabod is a terrible horseman, but it seems he thinks otherwise.

Answer: Baltus Van Tassel

If you've seen the Disney animated version of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" you probably know how Katrina is supposed to have used her father's party to stir the embers of the feud between Ichabod and Brom. There she is seen to be writing Ichabod's invitation personally.

But Irving makes no mention of Katrina actually sending an invitation to anyone in the story. Instead, a black messenger is sent out to deliver invitations from Baltus Van Tassel to his guests to his party for that evening.

Answer: Saint Vitus

Ichabod prides himself on two things: his singing and his dancing. When he dances, every bit of him is in motion, which must make a wild sight. Irving claims that to have seen Ichabod dancing you'd have thought that you were watching Saint Vitus dancing, whom he refers to as the blessed patron of the dance.

The dance referred to as Saint Vitus' Dance is actually a neural disorder called chorea (which is derived from a Greek word meaning dance), and more specifically Sydenham's chorea which is also known as Chorea Minor. It's characterized by rapid involuntary jerking movements of a person's limbs and face which may make it appear that the person is dancing. Epilepsy has also been said to be Saint Vitus' Dance. Both have made him a patron saint against nervous disorders.

Saint Vitus' position as patron saint of dancers may also come from the 16th century when some in Germany would dance before his statue on his feast day in the hope of having good health for a year. This dancing supposedly became a mania which came to be confused with the disorder called Saint Vitus' Dance.

Answer: We don't know

The simple fact is that Irving never states what Katrina told Ichabod after the party. In fact he has the story teller say he doesn't know and isn't going to pretend he does. Instead he ponders whether she had been playing a coquettish trick and that maybe she'd been using Ichabod to make Brom jealous.

Answer: Some nameless battle

Irving doesn't give a name for the battle in which the Horseman lost his head, stating only that it was some nameless battle. Tarrytown, or as Irving called it in the story Tarry Town, was neutral territory during the war, located between the British and colonial lines.

As such, it was subjected to raids from both sides, any one of which could have been a skirmish in which the Horseman lost his head.

Answer: Cotton Mather

Ichabod is said to be a master of Mather's "History of New England Witchcraft". He often spent his time after the school day let out reading from the book until dusk made it difficult to read. And at Van Tassel's party he recited extracts from Mather's book along with events from Connecticut and things he'd seen in Sleepy Hollow.

Silence Dogood was a pen name Ben Franklin used in his younger days to get published in the "New England Courant", which was produced by Franklin's older brother James. In a similar fashion Irving himself used the pen name Jonathan Oldstyle when he was first published in New York's "Morning Chronicle", a paper which was edited by his brother Peter.

Answer: Galloping Hessian

The proper name of the Headless Horseman is The Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow, as is revealed when Irving is first describing the Horseman before he even introduces Ichabod. This is usually shortened to just the Headless Horseman. But on at least three occasions Irving refers to him as the galloping Hessian. He's also referred to as a goblin and a goblin rider.

Answer: "Who are you?"

There's very little actual dialogue in the story, most of it appearing in the postscript. The story teller does quote or paraphrase Ichabod, Brom, Baltus Van Tassel and the people of Sleepy Hollow at times, though we only ever see Ichabod speaking in the story itself. And that simple line is to ask his unexpected riding companion who they are as it is too dark for him to yet make out any details as to who they are beyond their being a horseman of immense size mounted on a black horse. Of course his companion never answers him. Upon reaching raised ground where the trees have apparently thinned out enough to have his companion clearly illuminated against the sky, Ichabod was able to make out more details of his companion, and realized to his horror that it was the Headless Horseman.

"If I can but reach the bridge I am safe" is actually shown to be Ichabod thinking to himself upon seeing the church through the trees. Ichabod remembered clearly Brom's story about the Horseman disappearing in a flash of fire at the church bridge and the sight of the church itself caused him to realize how close to the bridge he was. So his thoughts turned to what he believed to be his imminent escape from the Horseman.

Answer: The architect of the school house

While Van Houten might be an eel fisherman, there's no mention of him being so. However, in describing the school house Irving describes how the shutters of the window were designed to make it difficult, if not nearly impossible, for them to get back out. He then says it's an idea the architect had taken from the mystery of an eel pot.

Answer: Sing psalm tunes

Although Ichabod is seen to whistle on the fateful night he disappeared, Irving earlier in the story describes how Ichabod would sing psalm tunes either to drown out thought of what he might encounter or to drive away evil spirits. The people of Sleepy Hollow would often listen in awe to the sound of his singing at night when this happened. And Ichabod did try singing a psalm when he met the Headless Horseman, but his parched tongue prevented him from doing so.

Answer: His hat and a shattered pumpkin

The morning after the Van Tassel party, Gunpowder has returned to his master's home and is found nibbling on the grass at his gate. Ichabod fails to show for breakfast, or dinner even, which is unusual given his virtually insatiable appetite. Nor does he show up at the school. So Hans Van Ripper gets a little nervous about where Ichabod, and his Sunday saddle, are, given he's currently being housed with his family. Van Ripper leads an inquiry to find Ichabod and the saddle. The saddle is found on the road leading to the church as it had fallen off Gunpowder during the chase. On the opposite side of the church bridge all that can be found of the schoolmaster is his hat and a shattered pumpkin. A search of the brook, which was said to run deep and black where the hat and pumpkin were found, failed to turn up a body.

Ichabod had turned after crossing the bridge to watch the Headless Horseman vanish. But instead he was struck by what he thought to be his head, which knocked him off Gunpowder. The last things he saw were Gunpowder, the Horseman, and the black steed which the Horseman rode.

Answer: Brom Bones

It's implied, through Brom's having a knowing look whenever the story of Ichabod Crane's disappearance is told and his hearty laughter at the mention of the shattered pumpkin, that he may have been playing the role of the Headless Horseman on the night Ichabod disappeared and that he is actually to blame for the disappearance.

But Irving leaves it up to the reader when he states the old country wives are the best judges in such matters and they claim it really was the Headless Horseman who got Ichabod. Of course, given the fact that Brom is made out to be a practical joker and his own story of the Horseman at the party makes him out to be an errant jockey, it's possible Brom isn't responsible and just sees the whole story as humorous, believing the Horseman had challenged Ichabod to a race and was furious at losing to such an inept rider.