Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle Summary | Detailed Summary

Rip Van Winkle lived in a small Dutch village in the Catskill Mountains, near the Hudson River. Most of the houses in the village were clean and the gardens and fields were well tended, except for Rip Van Winkle's; his home was a mess. Rip Van Winkle was lazy and did as little work as possible.

Instead, Rip liked to wander through town with his dog, Wolf, and tell stories to the neighborhood children. Most of the town did not mind Rip's laziness. However, his wife minded it very much and nagged him about it all the time. She yelled at him loudly enough to be heard across town and often threw pots and other household items at Rip and Wolf. Dame Van Winkle would criticize Rip and nag at him no matter where he went to get away.

He often went to the inn to relax and swap stories with his friends, until Dame Van Winkle showed up and nagged at his friends and called them names too. Rip Van Winkle always had excuses for not doing various chores.

The only place that Rip was safe from his wife's criticism and nagging was in the woods with his hunting rifle and Wolf. Dame Van Winkle had too much work to do to chase him up the mountain to scold him.

One autumn day, Rip and Wolf went into the hills to escape Dame Van Winkle's yelling and fussing. They spent the day on the mountainside, hunting squirrels, though they did not catch anything. When it was time to return home, they heard a voice calling Rip. They thought it was Dame Van Winkle until they saw a small man in old-fashioned clothes. The little man was carrying a heavy keg. Because Rip was so glad to see that it was not Dame Van Winkle, he hurried to help the little man carry the keg.

Rip Van Winkle heard thunder in the distance. After walking for quite a while, they came to an open field, where Rip saw many little, bearded men bowling ninepins. The noise he had thought was thunder was actually the sound of their bowling echoing through the mountains.

The keg that Rip had helped to carry was filled with a tasty drink, which the small men shared with Rip. After drinking three full glasses, he began to get sleepy. The sun was gone and the noise of the bowling continued as Rip fell asleep in the moonlight.

Rip Van Winkle woke up the next morning in the same place he had sat down to rest the day before, prior to meeting the little, bearded man. His dog was gone, his clothes were tattered and torn, his gun had rusted, and his beard had grown a foot in length. He headed for the clearing where the little men had been bowling, but could not find it. Rip Van Winkle decided to go home, though he knew he would get a horrible scolding.

When Rip came in view of the village, he stopped in disbelief. There were many new buildings. When he entered the village the children gathered behind him whispering, but he did not recognize any of them. He went to his own house, but it was empty and collapsing, showing no sign of life. He called to his children, but they were nowhere around.

Very confused, Rip walked through town to the inn. However, the inn was no longer there. It had been replaced with the Union Hotel. The big tree had been cut down and in its place was a flagpole flying the American flag. Rip had never seen a flag like that one. Outside the inn, people were gathered around, talking about an election.

A young man noticed Rip's rusty hunting rifle and questioned him as to why he brought a gun to the election, as they did not want any trouble. Rip explained that it was just a hunting rifle, and began asking about his friends to help establish his identity. He was told that the innkeeper had been dead for eighteen years and that the schoolmaster he knew had gone to the war and was now in Congress.

Finally, Rip asked if anyone knew Rip Van Winkle. A young woman holding a baby stepped forward, saying that Rip had been her father, and that he'd gone out hunting twenty years earlier and had never returned. He recognized the young woman as his daughter, Judith, now grown. He told her he was her father, and then told everyone the story of where he had been for twenty years.

No one could make any sense of Rip's story. Finally, they called Peter Vanderdonk who knew all of the history of that area. Peter listened as Rip told his story again. He claimed that Rip had met the ghosts of Hendrick Hudson and his crew, the men who had discovered the Hudson River. According to Vanderdonk, Hudson and his men returned every twenty years just to check on things.

Some of the villagers thought Rip Van Winkle was crazy and had made up the whole thing. Some villagers believed him because they occasionally heard the thunder in the mountains. During his twenty-year sleep, Rip had missed the whole American Revolution.

Rip Van Winkle's daughter invited him to live with her family. She did not nag as her mother had. Rip's life was quite peaceful without his wife, Dame Van Winkle to nag at him. He resumed telling stories to the neighborhood children, telling his own story most frequently, as he had always liked ghost stories the best. Occasionally, he would hear thunder in the mountains, but he never went looking for the ghosts because he did not want to lose another twenty years.