Rip Van Winkle (Irving)
Short Summary
Dutch colonial New York, late 1700s. In a village at the foot of the Kaatskill mountains lived a simple villager named Rip Van Winkle.
To escape his nagging wife, Rip often wandered into the mountains with his dog. One day, he encountered strange men playing ninepins and shared their mysterious liquor. After drinking, he fell into a deep sleep. Upon waking, he found his gun rusted, his dog gone, and his beard grown long. Returning to his village, he discovered that twenty years had passed, his wife had died, and the American Revolution had transformed the colony into an independent nation.
God knows... I'm not myself - I'm somebody else - that's me yonder - no - that's somebody else got into my shoes - I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and they've changed my gun.
Eventually, Rip's daughter recognized him and took him in. He learned that the mysterious men he met were the ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew, who were said to return every twenty years to play ninepins in the mountains. Free from his wife's nagging, Rip resumed his idle ways, becoming a village patriarch who told his story to every stranger at the inn.
Detailed Summary
The division of the summary into chapters is conditional.
Life in the Village
In a small village at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains, during the time of British rule, lived a simple man named Rip Van Winkle. The village had been founded by Dutch settlers in the early days of the province, during Peter Stuyvesant's governorship.
Rip was a favorite among the village wives and children, always ready to help with their tasks and play with the young ones. However, he had one significant flaw - his complete aversion to profitable work.
The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor... but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.
His wife constantly scolded him for his laziness and irresponsibility.
Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
The Strange Encounter
To escape his wife's nagging, Rip often went to the village inn with his dog Wolf, where he would sit with other idle men of the village, particularly Nicholas Vedder, the landlord.
One autumn day, to escape his wife's endless scolding, Rip wandered into the Catskill Mountains with his dog. After climbing to a great height, he sat down to rest.
He was after his favorite sport of squirrel shooting, and the still solitudes had echoed and re-echoed with the reports of his gun... he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll.
There, he encountered a strange figure carrying a keg of liquor. The man wore old-fashioned Dutch clothes and beckoned Rip to help him. Together they climbed to a hollow where Rip found a group of equally strange men playing ninepins. Without speaking, they gestured for him to serve them drinks from the keg. After several drinks himself, Rip fell into a deep sleep.
Twenty Years Later
When Rip awoke, he found himself on the same green knoll, but everything had changed. His beard had grown a foot long, his rifle was rusted and falling apart, and Wolf was nowhere to be found.
On waking, he found himself on the green knoll... 'Surely,' thought Rip, 'I have not slept here all night.' He recalled the occurrences before he fell asleep... 'Oh! that flagon! that wicked flagon!'
Returning to his village, Rip found it completely transformed. The old inn was gone, replaced by the Union Hotel, and he recognized no one. The villagers stared at him strangely, and children followed him, pointing at his long beard. His house was in ruins, and his wife had died.
Confused and distressed, Rip asked about his old friends. Nicholas Vedder had died eighteen years ago, and Derrick Van Bummel had become a congressman.
In his confusion, Rip declared his loyalty to King George, causing an uproar among the villagers. He learned that the American Revolution had taken place during his sleep, and the country was now independent.
Recognition and New Life
Finally, a woman with a child pushed through the crowd and recognized him as her father. This was his daughter Judith, now grown up.
The oldest inhabitant of the village, Peter Vanderdonk, confirmed Rip's identity and explained that the Catskill Mountains were haunted by Hendrick Hudson and his crew, who kept vigil there every twenty years.
Rip went to live with his daughter and resumed his old habits of idleness. He was happy to be free from his wife's domination, though he would shrug his shoulders and raise his eyes whenever her name was mentioned.
Rip, in fact, was no politician; the changes of states and empires made but little impression on him; but there was one species of despotism under which he had long groaned... petticoat government.
The Legend Lives On
The story was found among the papers of Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old gentleman of New York known for his interest in Dutch history.
Rip's story became a favorite tale in the neighborhood, and the old Dutch inhabitants gave it full credit. Even to his day, whenever a thunderstorm echoed through the Catskills, people said it was Hendrick Hudson and his crew playing nine-pins.
Even to this day they never hear a thunderstorm... but they say Hendrick Hudson and his crew are at their game of nine-pins; and it is a common wish of all hen-pecked husbands... that they might have a quieting draught.
The story became so well-known that every man, woman, and child in the neighborhood knew it by heart. Some doubted its reality and insisted that Rip had been out of his head, but the old Dutch inhabitants almost universally gave it full credit. The tale was authenticated by Peter Vanderdonk, whose ancestor had written one of the earliest accounts of the province. The story's enduring popularity was evidenced by the fact that some biscuit-bakers even went so far as to imprint Knickerbocker's likeness on their New-Year cakes, giving him a chance at immortality equal to being stamped on a Waterloo Medal or a Queen Anne's Farthing.
The tale was accompanied by a note explaining that the Catskill Mountains had always been a region full of fable. The Indians considered them the abode of spirits who influenced the weather. They were said to be ruled by an old squaw spirit who dwelt on the highest peak and controlled the doors of day and night, hung new moons in the sky, and cut up old ones into stars. The mountains were also home to a mischievous Manitou who took pleasure in wreaking havoc on hunters, leading them astray and then vanishing with a loud laugh. These legends added to the mystical atmosphere that surrounded Rip's extraordinary tale, making it part of the rich tapestry of local folklore that characterized the Hudson River Valley.