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Rip Van Winkle (book summary)Rip Van Winkleby: Washington IrvingSome years before the American Revolution, Rip Van Winkle, "a simple, good-natured fellow" of Dutch descent, lives in a pleasant village at the foot of the Catskill Mountains. He hunts and fishes, attends country frolics, builds stone fences, runs errands for the housewives, plays with the children, and sits in the shade with his cronies Derrick Van Bummel, a schoolmaster, and Nicholas Vedder, a tavern owner. He is quick to help his neighbors with any sort of drudgery but shies away from profitable labor. His farm has fallen into neglect because of his easy-going nature. "In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, and keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible." One autumn day, Rip avoids his wife's incessant nagging by wandering into the mountains with his dog Wolf. Rip discovers a man dressed in antiquated Dutch clothing, carrying a keg up the mountain, who requires Rip's help. Without exchanging words, the two climb to a hollow in which Rip discovers the source of previously- heard thunderous noises: there is a group of other ornately-dressed, silent, bearded men who are playing nine-pins. Although there is no conversation and Rip does not ask the men who they are or how they know his name, he discreetly begins to drink some of their liquor, and falls asleep.He awakes in unusual circumstances: it seems to be morning, his gun is rotted and rusty, his beard has grown a foot long, and Wolf is nowhere to be found. Rip returns to his village where he finds that he recognizes no one. He discovers that his wife has died and that his close friends have died in a war or left the area. He immediately gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that the American Revolution has taken place; George III's portrait on the town inn has been replaced by that of George Washington. Rip is also disturbed to find another man is being called Rip Van Winkle (though this is in fact his son, who has now grown up). The men he met in the mountains, Rip learns, are rumored to be the ghosts of Hendrick (Henry) Hudson's crew. Rip is told that he has apparently been away from the village for twenty years. Mr. Doolittle, a hotel owner, recognizes Rip and Rip's now-adult daughter Judith Gardenier takes him in. Rip resumes his habitual idleness, and his tale is solemnly taken to heart by the Dutch settlers, with other hen-pecked husbands, after hearing his story, wishing they could share in Rip's good luck. Ενότητα: Book Summaries part 1
Πηγή: Wikipedia
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