What is the universal theme of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"?

The overwhelming theme to my mind concerns the
relationship between fiction and fantasy. Note how the story itself is called a "legend"
by Washington Irving. This introduces us to this thematic concern. Legends by their
nature are stories that may have an original basis in truth but have been elaborated and
exaggerated over the years to become a very different kind of tale. It is important to
realise how Irving creates a setting that stimulates the imagination of all those within
it to such a great extent:

readability="15">

Certain it is, the place still continues under
the sway of some witching power that holds a spell over the minds of the good people,
causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvelous
beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear
music and voices in the air. The whole neighbourhood abounds with local tales, haunted
spots, and twilight
superstitions...

If ever
there were a place that could be used to explore the tenuous relationship between fact
and fiction, then this imagination-saturated location is
it.

Ichabod Crane, as an outsider to the community, is
shown to be completely seduced by the powers of the imagination and his dreams. Note
how, when he first visits the Van Tassel home, he is entranced by the bounty that he
sees and falls victim to "sugared suppositions" of his future life being married to
Katrina Van Tassel:

readability="12">

...and anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat
fields, breathing the odour of the beehive, and as he beheld them, soft anticipations
stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered and garnished with honey or
treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van
Tassel.

He is a man who, as
his dreams of his union with Katrina Van Tassel show, is unable to distinguish between
fact and fantasy. Likewise, he is unable to see the story of the headless horseman for
what it really is: a story. This makes his downfall easy in both situations. He has
clearly got so far ahead of himself that his rejection by Katrina comes as a complete
surprise, just as he believes in the reality of the headless horseman that haunts him.
Thus the tale acts as a cautionary story, warning us to make sure that we keep very firm
boundaries between fact and fantasy and never try to blur them.