My all time favorite story when I was ten was Washington Irving's (Diedrich Knickerbocker) Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
I had found the unabridged version of the short story in my friend Khalid Kassim's library and promptly begged (with such earnestness) for a chance to read it that the kindly man, with his graying hair at the temples and eyes the color of burning emerald told me I could keep the book, too.
Read more Juliet Maruru here.