58 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a walk into the mountains carries you away from the world you know?
Below the Catskill Mountains, Rip Van Winkle gladly helps his neighbors but leaves his own farm neglected. Dame Van Winkle sees the weeds, broken fence, and hungry children, and has plenty to say. With his faithful dog, Wolf, Rip belongs to a quiet Dutch village where idleness has its familiar comforts.
One autumn afternoon, Rip climbs into the mountains and hears a voice calling his name. A silent stranger in old Dutch dress leads him toward a strange gathering. Washington Irving gives this short story the feel of old folklore, drawing gentle humor and melancholy from a slower world that cannot last.
What you’ll discover
- A mountain full of mystery Follow Rip above a deep glen, where a familiar name becomes an unsettling call.
- An endearingly idle hero Meet a man whose kindness to others sits awkwardly beside his neglected duties at home.
- A household at odds See Rip and Dame Van Winkle clash over the work he would rather avoid.
- A village caught in time Linger among Dutch villagers beneath mountains that change color with every shift of light.
- Humor with a melancholy edge Explore questions of time, change, and belonging beneath the tale’s easygoing surface.
Is it for you?
This summary suits readers who enjoy folk tales, early American literature, or gentle humor with a sting of melancholy. It also helps students who need the story's themes in order. Those wanting fast action may find it slow.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A idle man in a Dutch village
- A scolding wife and a faithful dog
- The strange men on the mountain
- Change, belonging and how it is told
Who’s who
- Rip Van WinkleA kind, easygoing villager who loves to help others and hates to work on his own farm.
- Dame Van WinkleRip's sharp-tongued wife, who runs the household and cannot forgive her husband's idleness.
- WolfRip's loyal hunting dog, as timid of Dame Van Winkle as his master is.
- Nicholas VedderThe landlord of the village inn, who presides over the daily gathering of idlers on the bench.
- The stout old manA silent stranger in old Dutch dress who carries a keg up the mountain and leads Rip to the others.
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- Large print hardcover
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Myths & LegendsFree to read
Rip Van Winkle
by Washington Irving· 1819
A man's strange sleep carries him into a changed America.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A idle man in a Dutch village
The story opens in a quiet village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains, settled by the Dutch in the days of Peter Stuyvesant. The weather there shapes the scenery, and the mountains change color with every shift of light. Irving takes his time drawing the place, because the village matters to everything that follows.
In one of its old houses lives Rip Van Winkle, a descendant of a brave soldier but not much of a soldier himself. Rip is kind, cheerful and always ready to help a neighbor. The village children love him, because he mends their toys and tells them tales. The village dogs do not bark at him.
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The author
Washington Irving
1783–1859 · American writer and historian
Washington Irving (1783–1859) was an American writer, historian and diplomat. He was born in New York City and died in Tarrytown, New York. He also lived in Britain and Spain. He published The Sketch Book in 1819–1820 and The Alhambra in 1832. He served as American minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.
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What is Rip Van Winkle about?
It is about an easygoing man in a Dutch village in the Catskills who avoids work and flees his scolding wife. A walk into the mountains leads him to a strange meeting that changes his whole life.
When was Rip Van Winkle written?
Washington Irving published it in 1819 in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. It is a work of fiction, though Irving based it on German and local folk legends and gave it a Hudson Valley setting.
Who is Diedrich Knickerbocker in Rip Van Winkle?
He is an invented Dutch-American historian, supposed to have written down the tale. Irving used him as a comic narrator in earlier works too, and the name later became a nickname for New Yorkers.
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