Fun with Ike

Okay, I'm updating the blog, enough bugging me about it already! I'll write my "birth story" later, but for now, let's have fun with Ike's name.
Believe it or not, there aren't a lot of Ichabods out there. The son of some people we know from the dog park is nicknamed Ike, but his given name is Isaac, so that doesn't count. Before choosing the name — which we chose several hours after he was born, by the way — the only Ichabod we knew of was Crane, as in from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. For that matter, neither one of us has even read the book, our impression is strictly Disney-fied (well, I think I might have read it in my Gothic American Lit class in college, but I can't remember ... so I guess that doesn't count). For anyone who hasn't read it, I found an e-book. Read it out loud, it sounds cool.
Actually, though, the name has a biblical origin. Or at least, it was in the Bible. The story's in 1 Samuel chapter 4, and it's not really that pleasant. For you Bible-phobes out there, I'll give the Cliff's Notes version (it wouldn't kill you to actually read it, though).
So, Ichabod's family were all high priests in ancient Israel, and their job was guarding the ark of the covenant (notice the reference to Ichabod in this link too). During a big battle before Ichabod was born, the ark was captured by the Philistines and Ichabod's father and uncle were killed. When his grandfather (who, according to the Bible, was old and heavy) got the news that his sons were dead and the ark captured, he died. Ichabod's mother found out while she was in labor that her husband (Phineas) had died, then she gave birth and named the child Ichabod, which has been taken to mean "The glory has gone out of Israel." The above link to the Bible passage says it literally means "inglorious." Although I didn't see it in my reading, my dad says Ichabod's mom died right after she named him.
Not the most glamorous of histories, but interesting nonetheless. Back to the slightly more upbeat Disney version. I went out and bought the DVD. The story is pretty dark — I must have blocked out the ending (I won't ruin it for you). But, there's a song in it that we've taken to singing to Ike, because there's a passage in it that suits the name really well. Bing Crosby is the narrator, and the songs are great, classic Disney. Not like the garbage in the new Disney cartoons. I was going to link to the song, but Joe's sleeping and I don't know how to upload a music file. You'll just have to live in suspense for a while, until I get him to do it.
Did you know there's really a Sleepy Hollow? It's exactly where the Disney movie says: north of Tarrytown. How cool would it be to go to this school? And, there really was an Ichabod Crane. He didn't get his head chopped off by the Headless Horseman, but Irving must have either known him or heard the name. He based the actual character on the man who was the schoolmaster in the town of Kinderhook when Irving visited the area.
In addition to the Disney version, there's the movie starring Johnny Depp that came out a few years ago. I don't think it sticks as close to the book as the Disney one does (it's not often you can say that), but since I haven't read the book yet, I'm not sure. There's also a TV movie of the story, starring Jeff Goldblum as Ichabod Crane and Dick Butkus as Brom Bones. I haven't seen that one yet, but if any of you get your hands on it pass it along. If you search The Internet Movie Database, you'll find a bunch of matches. Maybe we should start collecting Sleepy Hollow movies. That might be cool ... but I think Ike wouldn't be allowed to watch them until he's much older.