Rip Van Winkle is a Dutch‐American living in a pleasant village at the foot of New York’s Catskill Mountains around the time of the American Revolutionary War. He enjoys solitary activities in the wilderness but is also loved by all in town—especially the children to whom he tells stories and gives toys. However, he tends to shirk hard work, to his nagging wife’s dismay, which has caused his home and farm to fall into disarray.