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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:A Mythological ParodyMARJORIEW. BRUNER

STUDIES OF Washington Irving's Legendof Sleepy Hollow have already beenmade showing the borrowings from Ro-mantic German literature and from na-tive American life and folk humor.1Thispresent study attempts to show it to bea rollicking parody of ancient Greekmyths and rites of Greek fertility cults,a comic story of death and rebirth, fer-tility and immortality.A clue to this interpretation is givenby Irving himself when he speaks ofBrom Bones as having a Herculeanframe, and the messenger who invitedIchabod to the Van Tassel's party aswearing a cap of Mercury. From hereon Irving parodies the gods and god-desses and the rites of their worship atEleusis in Greece.Brom Bones, so nicknamed becauseof his powers of limb, was a rusticHercules, of whose feats of skill andstrength the whole countryside wellknew. He was arrogant, boastful, had thetemper of a lion, enjoyed fighting insingle combat, and played pranks on un-suspecting persons like his godly pro-totype. While Hercules wore a lion'sskin, which he took as a trophy afterone of his labors, BromnBones "xvasdis-tinguished by a fur cap, surmountedwith a flaunting fox's tail," which wasidentified at a distance by the country

'W. A. Reichart, JCVashington Irving andGermany (Ann Arbor, 1957) and D. G. Hoff-man, Form and Fable in American Literature(New York, 1961).After 25 years' leave from the classroom torear a family, Mrs. Brzuner has returned toteaching at Carthage College (Kenosha, Wise.),where she is an assistant professor of Englishin American literature.

people. Hercules wrestled with Ache-loos, a river god, for the hand ofDeianira; Brom Bones competed withIchabod for the favor of Katrina VanTassel, but how?-by playing pranks onIchabod at the schoolhouse and by en-gaging in the frightening ride throughthe dark woods. In the end both Her-cules and Brom won their girls whomthey married and lived with for sometime. Hercules made a visit to the under-world on a mission and made a success-ful return to his land. So did Brom;his trip to the underworld was his ridethrough the forest as the headless horse-man, and his mission was to frightenIchabod out of the neighborhood. Onthe completion of his mission, Brom, likeHercules, returned to his community,married Katrina, and became a respectedlandholder.Katrina Van Tassel, as her name in-dicates, corresponds to the corn goddess,Demeter, for everything concerning herand surrounding her suggests ripenessand fertility.' Katrina was plump androsy-cheeked and she wore much yellow(Demeter's color). The whole VanTassel farm is a symbol of fertility, forthe barn seemed to Ichabod to be burst-ing forth with farm treasures; in thebarnyard were "rows of pigeons,""troops of suckling pigs," "a squadronof snowy geese," "regiments of turkeysand guinea fowls." Around the barn-yard were "fat meadow-lands," "richfields of wheat, rye, buckwheat andIndian corn," all symbols of Demeter,

2Sir James George Frazer, The New GoldenBough, ed. by T. H. Gaster (New York, 1961),pp. 199 f.274


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SLEEPY HOLLOW: MYTHOLOGICAL PARODYand "orchards burthened with ruddyfruit." Inside the house were rows ofresplendent pewter, treasure of old sil-ver and china, strings of dried apples andpeaches and ears of Indian corn. Evensimiles used in connection with Katrinaare those of food: Ichabod looked onher as a tempting morsel, and his dreamof achieving her hand looked to him aseasy as "a man would carve his way tothe center of a Christmas pie."The messenger who brought to Icha-bod the invitation to the Van Tasselparty was "a negro in tow-cloth jacketand trowrsers, a round-crowned frag-ment of a hat, like the cap of Mercury,and mounted on the back of a ragged,wild, half-broken colt which he man-aged with a rope by way of a halter."He is a comic figure of Mercury whovas not only the messenger of the gods,but who also acted as guide for way-farers to the underworld. Because of thislatter association, Mercury's symboliccolor was black. All of the Olympiangods are represented in mythology aswhite-skinned, but in this parody of thegods, Irving uses Mercury's associationwith black and death to make his mes-senger a Negro.

Is Ichabod too a parody of a god? Heseems to hold two positions in thiscomedy of Greek mythology. He is aparody of the river god, Acheloos, whostruggled wvithHercules, and at the sametime he is a burlesque of a worshipperof one of the Greek Mysteries.As a parody of a river god, Ichabod isquite plainly connected with water by hislast name of Crane and his personal de-scription which is made in terms of waterand bird images. His appearance is thatof a water bird: tall, lanky, lean withnarrow shoulders, long arms and legs,feet like shovels, loosely-knit frame,small head, large green, glassy eyes, acapacious swallow, and a long snipe (alsoa water bird) nose similar to a beak. Hishead turned like a weathercock; helooked like a scarecrow; and when he

rode Gunpowder his arms "flapped likea pair of wings," and his elbows "stuckout like grasshoppers."Ichabod's nature was that of a quietriver: "wonderfully gentle and ingratiat-ing," "a happy mixture of pliability andperseverance." He made his advances toKatrina "in a quiet and gently insinuatingmanner."As a river was a major means of com-munication in the early days, so Ichabodwas "a traveling gazette," bringing gossipfrom house to house. Like some meander-ing rivers he had no permanent home;he lived successively a week at a timeat the houses of his students. He is identi-fied with water also when the reader istold that his schoolhouse stood by abrook, his hours of leisure were spentbeside a brook or stream or swamp. Hesauntered with girls along banks of anadjacent mill-pond, and he courted Ka-trina beside a spring. Even his school-house fastening "borrowed from themystery of the eel-pot."

Ichabod is also compared to a riverat flood tide which appears to eat up theland as it advances, when Irving says thatIchabod "was a huge feeder, and thoughlank, had the dilating powers of an ana-conda." Katrina, "a tempting morsel,"found favor with Ichabod, but his feel-ings for her were prompted more by de-sire for her possessions than for herself,for "the pedagogue's mouth watered ashe looked upon this sumptuous promiseof luxurious winter fare. ... As the en-raptured Ichabod fancied all this, andas he rolled his great green eyes over thefat meadow-lands . . . his heart yearnedafter the damsel vho was to inheritthese domains" and his imagination rovedto how he would turn all this to cashand move to Kentucky or some othernew region, just as a river at flood tide,having devoured the land before it,would cut new channels for its course.

Finally, Irving seems to point to Icha-bod's stature as a comic god when heestablishes the social importance of the

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COLLEGE ENGLISHschoolmaster in the community. "Theschoolmaster is generally a man of someimportance in the female circle of ruralneighborhoods . . . an idle gentlenmanlikepersonage, of vastly superior taste andaccomplishments to the rough countryswains." "The more bashful countrybumpkins" envied "his superior eleganceand address." In the schoolroom he wras"enthroned" in his "literary realm," "inhis hand swayed a ferule, a scepter ofdespotic power." His mastery of CottonMather's History of New EnglandWitchcraft, his delight in listening tosupernatural tales, and his whole-heartedbelief generally in the supernatural pointsalso to his own identification with a su-pernatural god. Ichabod existed on asocial and intellectual plane above hisroistering rival, Brom Bones, just asAcheloos, a lesser divinity, was on aspiritual plane above Hercules, the semi-mortal hero of brawn.Many more details of comparison canbe found betwveenIchabod and Acheloos,whose story of the struggle against Her-cules is to be found in Ovid's Metainor-phoses (Book IX). In addition to theseparodies of the individual characters ofthe mythological gods, the theme of TheLegend of Sleepy Hollow itself becomesa parody of the rituals of the GreekMysteries atEleusis and Dionysos andtheir accompanying symbolic trips tothe underworld.Like a musical composer who an-nounces his theme in the opening of hissymphony, Washington Irving an-nounced his by quoting from the Castleof Indolence, and expanded this dream-like otherworld theme by the use ofTarrytown, Sleepy Hollow, "drowsy,dreamy influence," "bewitched," "undersway of some wvitching power," "con-tinual reverie," "trances and visions,""see strange sights," "hear music andvoices in the air," and so on. These are,it is recognized, characteristic detailsoften used in Romantic novels, but theyare also a part of the story dealing basic-

ally with nmidnightworship of a mysteri-ous, awful, supernatural god involvingmusic, frenzied dancing, and the behold-ing of strange and frightful dramasthrough which the initiate xvould attainunion with the god. The theme of fer-tility, so important in the Greek Mys-teries, is expressed by Irving in the foodinlages and in the long, glowing descrip-tions of the abundance of nature at theVan Tassel home and countrysidearound, until the story becomes itselfa paean to the corn goddess, Demeter,whose worship centered at Eleusis. Icha-bod's "only study was how to gain theaffections of the peerless daughter ofVan Tassel," which in a parody of GreekMystery worship compares to the wor-shipper's desire to attain union w^ith hegoddess.The action of the story begins whilea buzzing stillness reigned in the school-room; a Negro appeared with an invita-tion to attend a frolic that evening at theVan Tassel's. As the rites at Eleusisheld at night, were open only to initiates,Ichabod too needed an invitation to theVan Tassel evening party."Ichabod spent an extra half hour athis toilet, brushing and furbishing up his1)est and indeed only suit of rusty blackand arranging his looks by a bit of brok-en looking-glass." Ichabod, of course, isgoing courting, but the initiates too un-derwent a purification ceremony, andthen donned garments of black. On hisway to Katrina's house he noticed na-ture's abundance. "His eye, ever open toevery symptom of culinary abundance,beheld a vast store of apples" in "oppres-sive opulence on the trees," "great fieldsof Indian corn" with yellow pumpkinslying beneath, buckwheat fields "breath-ing the odor of the bee-hive." All theseare symbols pertaining to the fertilitygods, and were represented in abundancealong the processional way to the wor-ship and at the shrines of the gods.He arrived at "the castle of the HeerVan Tassel" (the shrine) which he

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COLLEGE ENGLISHduty to introduce the dead to Osiris andshe is present at Osiris' judgment of thedead. Like Ichabod's headless horsemanwho supposedly lost his head in battle,she lost her head during a battle betweenSeth and Horus. The Greek and Egyp-tian worlds borrowed much from eachother by way of Crete and Alexandria,so that Isis was well-known to Greeks.

Then began Ichabod's wild ride whichreminds one of the pursuit of the Furiesof Greek tragedy driving their victim tohis destiny. Finally Ichabod saw a brook."If I can but reach that bridge," thoughtIchabod, "I am safe. . . . He thunderedover the resounding planks; he gainedthe opposite side." This brook is a mi-nuscule representation of the river Lethe,the river of forgetfulness, in which theGreeks believed the new souls must washthemselves before leaving the land of thedead and being reborn. Ichabod saw thegoblin rise to hurl the pumpkin head athim; but too late. "It encountered hiscranium with a tremendous crash." Ifone considers the long snipe nose as wellas the long lean figure of Ichabod to bea male phallic symbol, and the pumpkinto be the female mullos, this crash couldbe considered the moment of conceptionin this tale of death and rebirth. Ichabodtumbled into the dust and was possiblyunconscious for a short time from theshock (would this represent gestation?),after which he picked himself up andwalked off to other parts leaving behindhim all the paraphernalia of his earlierexistence at Sleepy Hollow. An oldfarmer visiting New York brought backnews that Ichabod was living in a dis-tant part of the country; he had "keptschool and studied law at the same time;had been admitted to the bar, turnedpolitician, electioneered, written for thenewspaper and finally had been made ajustice of the Ten Pound Court." Icha-bod had been reborn into a new life; hehad sloughed off his old life completely,even to the point of changing profes-sions.

Brom Bones, who participated in theparty at the Van Tassels' in the sameway that Hercules was initiated at Eleus-is before going to the underworld andwho as the headless horseman rode thedeath-like forest, did not undergo deathor rebirth (nor did Hercules) but he re-turned safely to Tarrytown where hemarried Katrina and became master ofher lands. Hercules, having accomplishedhis last labor safely, returned to theupper world, married Deianira, and even-tually became a god.How did Irving know of these ritesat Eleusis and Dionysos which were openonly to initiates and were rarely hintedat in classical writings? Some details arefound in Livy (Fourth Decade, BookIX), an author whom we are told Irvingread.3 We know also that Irving wasin Paris in 1805 when a book was pub-lished by Jacques-Antoine Dulaure4which created much criticism in thepress because it purported to show thatthe Christian rituals and customs hadtheir origins in the cults of primitiveages. Irving, being an avid newspaperreader, probably read the articles in-volved in this controversy which filledthe Parisian newspapers, and may evenhave obtained a copy of the book, sothat details of the cults welled up in hismemory when he began to write SleepyHollow a few years later.

We must not forget too, that thefigures of Hercules and other classicalheroes were well known to Renaissanceand Classical writers and artists in Eu-rope3 and that this influence was on thewane in Irving's period. By parodyingthese heroes Irving was helping to burya subject matter that had been populartoo long.3Pierre Irving, Life and Letters of Washing-ton Irving, (New York, 1883), Vol. I, p. 12.4Jacques-Antoine Dulaure, The Gods of Gen-

eration, trans. by A.F.N. (New York, 1933), p.xxi.'E. M. Waith, The Herculean Hero (NewYork, 1962).

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OLD TIMES ON THE MISSISSIPPILD TIMES ON THE MISSISSIPPIIt is possible that Irving's contempo-rariesrecognized his classical borrowings,although none of them has pointed theseout. A writer in Blacknwood'sMagazine(1825) wrote: "We have no patiencewith such a man as Washington Irving.We cannot keep our temper when wecatch him pilfering the materials of othermen; uworking up old stories." Theseitalics are mine; the whole quotation wasoriginally used to point out Irving's bor-rowing of the wild ride from Burger'sLeonore. Irving's reply to his critics wasthat he considered popular traditions fair

foundations for authors of fiction tobuild on, and his comic use of classic

It is possible that Irving's contempo-rariesrecognized his classical borrowings,although none of them has pointed theseout. A writer in Blacknwood'sMagazine(1825) wrote: "We have no patiencewith such a man as Washington Irving.We cannot keep our temper when wecatch him pilfering the materials of othermen; uworking up old stories." Theseitalics are mine; the whole quotation wasoriginally used to point out Irving's bor-rowing of the wild ride from Burger'sLeonore. Irving's reply to his critics wasthat he considered popular traditions fairfoundations for authors of fiction tobuild on, and his comic use of classic

mythology in the Legend of Sleepy Hol-low, as well as his parody of the lliadin the battle between the Dutch andSwedes in Knickerbocker's History ofNew York would seem to indicate thathe included the classics as fair founda-tions for stories too.Whatever classical sources Irving usedfor his Legend of Sleepy Hollow Irving'scomedy is intensfied through his use ofmythological and religious parallels.What was once serious and spirituallyelevating to the Greeks has become bycontrast and exaggeration through Irv-ing's genius something of rollickingmirth to be enjoyed for all time.

mythology in the Legend of Sleepy Hol-low, as well as his parody of the lliadin the battle between the Dutch andSwedes in Knickerbocker's History ofNew York would seem to indicate thathe included the classics as fair founda-tions for stories too.Whatever classical sources Irving usedfor his Legend of Sleepy Hollow Irving'scomedy is intensfied through his use ofmythological and religious parallels.What was once serious and spirituallyelevating to the Greeks has become bycontrast and exaggeration through Irv-ing's genius something of rollickingmirth to be enjoyed for all time.

Old Times on the Mississippias an Initiation StoryBARRISSMILLS

Old Times on the Mississippias an Initiation StoryBARRISSMILLS

IT 1S A COniMMONPLACEf criticism thatMark Twain was a great "natural" writ-er untroubled by a concern for form.It is his main weakness but also a partof his rather boyish charm as a writer,that he seems not only to have beenincapable of the sustained artistic con-centration necessary to produce "mas-terpieces," but also to have been almostunable to tell his best writing from hisworst. Few writers of comparable tal-ent have left so many unfinished proj-ects behind, and there is reason tobelieve that still other false starts wereabandoned and destroyed when the sud-den seizures of impulse wore themselvesout or the bursts of scribbling seemedto be leading nowhere. The various at-

IT 1S A COniMMONPLACEf criticism thatMark Twain was a great "natural" writ-er untroubled by a concern for form.It is his main weakness but also a partof his rather boyish charm as a writer,that he seems not only to have beenincapable of the sustained artistic con-centration necessary to produce "mas-terpieces," but also to have been almostunable to tell his best writing from hisworst. Few writers of comparable tal-ent have left so many unfinished proj-ects behind, and there is reason tobelieve that still other false starts wereabandoned and destroyed when the sud-den seizures of impulse wore themselvesout or the bursts of scribbling seemedto be leading nowhere. The various at-Professor Mills teaches American literatureand creative writing at Purdue. He is the author

of two collections of poems, The Black andWhite Geometry and Parvenus & Ancestors.The Idylls of Theokritos: A Verse Translationwas published in 1963.

Professor Mills teaches American literatureand creative writing at Purdue. He is the authorof two collections of poems, The Black andWhite Geometry and Parvenus & Ancestors.The Idylls of Theokritos: A Verse Translationwas published in 1963.

tempts, over many years and with sev-eral abandonments and new beginnings,to complete the story we now know asThe Mysterious Stranger is a strikingexample, thoroughly documented byJohn S. Tuckey's recent study of themanuscripts in Mark Twain and LittleSatan.Even The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn, his one great book, is badly marredby its final chapters, written in thevein of boyish humor more appropriateto The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, andnot even the authority of T. S. Eliot'sspecial pleading can hide the fact. Henceold Mark Twain hands tend to maketheir own anthologies of the "good"passages in his rather considerable writ-ings, without much regard to theparticular works in which they appear.An exception to this almost universalfailure of Mark Twain to attain reallyeffective "form" is Old Times on the

tempts, over many years and with sev-eral abandonments and new beginnings,to complete the story we now know asThe Mysterious Stranger is a strikingexample, thoroughly documented byJohn S. Tuckey's recent study of themanuscripts in Mark Twain and LittleSatan.Even The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn, his one great book, is badly marredby its final chapters, written in thevein of boyish humor more appropriateto The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, andnot even the authority of T. S. Eliot'sspecial pleading can hide the fact. Henceold Mark Twain hands tend to maketheir own anthologies of the "good"passages in his rather considerable writ-ings, without much regard to theparticular works in which they appear.An exception to this almost universalfailure of Mark Twain to attain reallyeffective "form" is Old Times on the

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