The Tale of Rip van Winkle
A hen-pecked, ne’er-do-well farmer from New York took off into the Catskill Mountains, and fell in with some very odd company.
1818
A hen-pecked, ne’er-do-well farmer from New York took off into the Catskill Mountains, and fell in with some very odd company.
1818
The story of Rip van Winkle was written in 1818 by Washington Irving, an American who was visiting England at the time. It tells of an obliging but ne’er-do-well farmer of Dutch descent living in colonial America, who falls asleep in the mountains one evening and consequently misses a rather important event.
BACK in the 1760s, there lived near New York, beneath the Catskill Mountains, a farmer called Rip van Winkle. He had a smallholding, which he neglected; a wife, who scolded him; a raggedy little son and daughter; and a dog called Wolf. Rip’s days were spent among his neighbours, in the ‘King George’ pub, or hunting woodcock with Wolf.
One evening, Rip had sauntered into the hills with Wolf and his fowling-piece when he heard someone calling his name. Presently, a short, bearded fellow appeared, carrying a huge keg of ale. Rip kindly helped them both through a narrow cleft between the rocks, and then stared about in wonder.
There, in a wide dell, quaintly clad folk who might have stepped off a Dutch master’s canvas were drinking, and playing ninepins with outsized wooden balls — yet every face was blank, expressionless, with not a smile among them. Rip took a dazed sip of ale (he found he was holding a cup), then another, and another...
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did Rip go up into the mountains that evening?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Rip picked up his gun. He went into the mountains. He planned to shoot birds.