
Rip Van Winkle
- First published
- 1850
- Reading level
- Plain English
- Price
- Free
About the book
"Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving is a short story published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager who encounters mysterious strangers in the Catskill Mountains, drinks their liquor, and falls into a deep sleep. When he awakens, twenty years have passed and everything has changed—his village is transformed, his friends are gone, and he has slept through the American Revolution. Now an elderly stranger in his own home, Rip must navigate a world he no longer recognizes and reconcile with the life that continued without him.
- Fantasy fiction
- New York (State)
- Catskill Mountains Region (N.Y.)
- Van Winkle, Rip (Fictitious character)
- Hudson River (N.Y. and N.J.)
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #60976. Rip Van Winkle on Wikipedia.
More free books by Washington Irving
About Washington IrvingThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon
Knickerbocker's History of New York, Complete
Old Christmas
Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, from the mss. of Fray Antonio Agapida
The Alhambra
Tales of a Traveller
Astoria
Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists
The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Volume II)
The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West
Life of George Washington, volume 1 of 5











