1. Rip Van Winkle
Washington Irving

2. Washington Irving
Was a short story writer, essayist, biographer, and historian.
Lived from 1783 – 1859
He was born in New York City and lived most of his life there. He spent a brief period of time in England, but later returned to Sunnyside, New York to live out the rest of his life.
His two most famous short stories are “Rip Van Winkle” (1819) and “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow” (1820).
Irving was fascinated by the American landscape. Many of his literary works include detailed descriptions of nature.

3. “Rip Van Winkle” – Background
“Rip Van Winkle” was published in 1819 while Washington Irving was living in England.
The story takes place in a village at the foot of New York’s Catskill Mountains.
The story was part of a collection called The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
The main character of the story is a Dutch-American villager living around the time of the American Revolutionary War.

4. Plot
The story takes place at in a village at the foot of the Catskill Mountain in New York before the start of the Revolutionary War.
Rip Van Winkle, the main character, is loved by everyone in the village. Rip loves to travel in the wilderness and share stories with the other villagers. However, his nagging wife often gets on his case for not doing any hard work.
One day as Rip is traveling in the mountains with his dog, Wolf, he hears a man call his name. He helps this man carry a keg up the mountain.
Rip meets some strange people at the top of the mountain, drinks from the keg, and falls asleep.
When Rip awakes, he discovers that strange things have happened to him and the village.

5. THINK-PAIR-SHARE
Have you ever wished that you could speed-up time or slow it down? When have you wished this? Why?

6. LINK: