Comparison between Sleepy Hollow and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Over time, there has been a change from the typical horror story to a violent and bloody legend . The original story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is an example of a simple but mysterious tale in which Ichabod Crane is the protagonist. Ichabod becomes the victim of the feared headless horseman after believing the superstitious tales of this spirit that preys in the night. The film supposedly based on the short story provides a misleading but compelling title for Sleepy Hollow, as one might assume the film is a re-enactment of the short story. The film and the original short story differ in that the film contains blood, gore and controversy while the story depicts a simple and descriptive place where an evil incident occurred. The gap between the story and the film is quite large, as the two are almost completely different. This gap shows how our culture has transformed the originality of the 1800s into a creepy, elaborate fairy tale through desensitization. Ichabod is introduced in the tale as a pedagogue for the children of Sleepy Hollow. Although his physical appearance was somewhat unpleasant, he was adored by many, especially the women and children of the town. He was useful to the community as he "helped the farmers with light work on their farms, helped make hay, mended fences, took the horses to the watering hole, drove the cows from the pasture, and cut wood for the winter fire." His demeanor was one of innocent kindness and willingness to help others. In the film, Ichabod maintained his spirit of modernity, but instead of working as a teacher, he was a policeman in New York City. It was sent to Sleepy Ho… middle of paper… of blood and gore, but rather a clear account of the encounter between Ichabod and the headless horseman. The film, on the other hand, provides gory detail after detail to the fight scenes and encounters with Ichabod and other characters as they try to escape the headless horseman. The story contains a moral, which is revealed at the very end by the narrator. His intent was to demonstrate "That there is no situation in life which has its advantages and pleasures, so long as we take a joke into account when we find it: that therefore, whoever runs races with goblin soldiers, is likely to have a hard life." en: Ergo, for a country schoolmaster to be refused the hand of a Dutch heiress, is a certain step towards a high career in the state. If the movie were to have a moral in its story, it might be something like this: "Kill the antagonist and you'll live happily ever after".."