When he awakens, his rifle is rusted to unrecognizability, and as he discovers later, he has aged considerably. There, he encounters a group of mystical creatures that put him to sleep for twenty years, paralleling the folk stories of fairies spiriting people away for years. Confrontations lead him to frequently escape – at first, to a gathering of men near the village inn, then into the woods, to hunt. This trait leads his family to live in near-poverty, much to the chagrin of Dame Van Winkle, his wife, who grows more bitter and aggressive with time. The protagonist is described as a simple and good-natured man, beloved of most women and children of the village, with his foremost flaw being an inability to maintain his well-being. Overall, the location is quiet and idle, reflecting the character of Rip himself. However, the village is mostly removed from the active flow of political events, receiving news irregularly and months after the events’ occurrence. It begins during the final years of the British dominion, which is overthrown in the American Revolution while Rip sleeps. The story takes place in a small Dutch American village located near the Catskill Mountains.
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