Washington Irving presents two of the selected stories, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”, saying that they are works of a Diedrich Knickerbocker. The reason he published the stories under that name was because his brothers were all studying law. Irving tried that career for a while, but quickly got bored of it. He told his brothers that he wanted to find a different career. When he began to write, he felt embarrassed and decided to change his name to typography. In both “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Pelayo and the Merchant's Daughter,” an important character travels frequently. Irving bounced around where he lived, because of money and work. In “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” the main character, Ichabod Crane, comes to the small town for the job of schoolteacher, just as Irving chased jobs. In “Pelayo and the Merchant's Daughter” the main characters, as mentioned in the title, also travel for work. In each story, the historical setting occurs during a period of Irving's life. In “Rip Van Winkle,” the time before Rip Van Winkle falls asleep is 1763. When he wakes up, the time is 1783, the year of Irving's birth. In “Pelayo and the Merchant's Daughter,” the historical setting is 1819. Irving died in 1859, so that was part of his life too. Finally, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is from 1790, he was also alive. Sometimes it's easier to write in the years we know and Irving did it in these three stories. Another similarity is that in all the stories chosen, none of the main characters are in business. Irving hated business in his life, which is why for a period of time he practiced law with his brothers. In these stories, the characters are lazy and do... the middle of the paper... of this story is to give the reader a feeling of love and mystery. Irving achieved this by putting in the perfect combination of silly crushes at the beginning and a headless horseman who may or may not be a joke at the end. I enjoyed this story and it was one of my favorites of the three I've read. These three stories have many similarities with each other and with the life of the author, Irving. As I explored these stories more deeply, I found that many doors open in these few pages of text. Many revelations and insights have come from deeper exploration of each of these three Irving short stories. “Rip Van Winkle,” “Pelayo and the Merchant's Daughter” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” made me laugh and I loved diving into them and discovering a whole world of tales.