mor in creating his American mythology, while scoffing at those who believe in such supernatural occurrences. Springer gives validity to the imaginative elements of “The Legend”. “What Irving does is show us the value of imagination in bringing wonder and enjoyment into our logic bound lives,” (483). Martin disagrees with this notion. Crane “loses all chance for the double prize of Katrina and the wealth of the Van Tassel farm when, terrified by his excessive imagination, he is literally run out of the region by Brom Bones impersonating the Headless Horseman. Brom Bones—the scoffer at superstition, who boasts that he has ridden a winning race against the Headless Horseman—triumphs and marries Katrina and is the victor of the tale,” (337). Therefore, the true winner in the story, the true American (discussed later) wins by playing on the superstitions of his opponent. “The telling effect of “Sleepy Hollow,” (and) “Rip Van Winkle,”…arises from the fact that the legendary is so firmly interwoven with earthy realism,” (Snell, 383). The entire concept would fail if these two aspects were not so delicately worked together.Irving relied on older mythology as a source for his work. “Rip Van Winkle,” for instance, uses the age-old story of a character falling asleep for long periods of time and then reawakening. “The sleep-motive in “Rip Van Winkle” has roots which run very deep in world literature. There is the classical story about Epimenides, who retired into a cave to escape the heat of the day when he should have been watching his flock, and slept there for fifty-seven years,” (Wagenknecht, “The Work” 363). This phenomenon serves as a way of showing that although American culture was fairly new, it had its roots in the ancient lore of the Europeans. At the same time, Ichabod Crane’s obs...
