The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle characters

Appears from the start

A lean Connecticut schoolmaster who teaches the children of Sleepy Hollow and supplements his small income by singing lessons and helping the families who lodge him. Learned, ambitious, and highly credulous, he relishes local supernatural tales even though they leave him easily frightened. He courts Katrina Van Tassel while imagining the comfort of her father's prosperous farm.

Appears from the start

The only child of wealthy farmer Baltus Van Tassel. Eighteen, attractive, and conscious of the attention she receives, she becomes the focus of Ichabod's hopes as well as the established object of Brom Bones's courtship.

Also known as Brom Bones

Appears from the start

A powerful, mischievous local horseman whose feats of strength and practical jokes have made him the leader of the neighborhood's young men. He is Katrina's chief suitor and treats the scholarly, awkward Ichabod as a rival to be mocked and discouraged.

Appears from the start

Katrina's prosperous, hospitable father, a contented farmer whose fertile land, well-stocked barns, and comfortable household strongly attract Ichabod. He entertains the neighborhood at a harvest gathering attended by both of Katrina's principal suitors.

Also known as The Galloping Hessian

Appears from the start

Sleepy Hollow's most feared apparition, said to be the ghost of a Hessian soldier whose head was carried away by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. Local tradition holds that the rider races nightly toward the churchyard in search of what he lost.

Appears from the start

The antiquarian narrator credited with preserving both tales. He presents them through remembered local storytellers and traditions, allowing supernatural explanations to stand beside comic and practical alternatives.

First appears in chapter 2

A good-natured but chronically unproductive resident of a Dutch village below the Catskill Mountains. He willingly helps neighbors and entertains children, yet neglects his own farm and retreats from work or domestic conflict whenever he can.

First appears in chapter 2

Rip's forceful wife, who angrily confronts him about his idleness, the declining farm, and his habit of spending time at the village inn. Her criticism drives Rip to seek peace outside the house and eventually in the mountains.

First appears in chapter 2

Rip's loyal dog and companion on his solitary expeditions. Wolf is brave away from the house but becomes cowed when Dame Van Winkle directs her anger toward him as part of Rip's disorderly household.

First appears in chapter 2

Rip's young daughter before his journey into the Catskills. She is one of the children left in the neglected Van Winkle household while her father spends his time helping others or wandering with his dog.

First appears in chapter 2

The landlord and presiding figure at the village inn, where Rip and his companions pass idle hours under the sign of King George III. He communicates his opinions largely through deliberate changes in how he smokes his pipe.

First appears in chapter 2

The village schoolmaster and a more articulate member of the inn's small circle. He reads old newspapers aloud and supplies the group with learned commentary on public events.

First appears in chapter 2

The Dutch explorer traditionally associated with a strange company in the Catskills. Local lore says that Hudson and the crew of the Half Moon return to the mountains at long intervals to keep watch over the river and the country they explored.

First appears in chapter 2

An elderly villager who preserves local history and recognizes the old traditions attached to the Catskills. His knowledge gives the transformed community a way to understand Rip's seemingly impossible account.