WHOEVER has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the
Kaatskill mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great
Appalachian family, and are seen away to the west of the river, swelling up
to a noble height, and lording it over the surrounding country. Every
change of season, every change of weather, indeed every hour of the day,
produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains,
and they are regarded by all the good wives, far and near, as perfect
barometers. When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue
and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes, when the rest of the landscape is cloudless, they will gather a
hood of gray vapors about their summits, which, in the last rays of the
setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.
At the foot of these fairy mountains, the voyager may have descried the
light smoke curling up from a village, whose shingle-roofs gleam among
the trees, just where the blue tints of the upland melt away into the fresh
green of the nearer landscape. It is a little village, of great antiquity, having
been founded by some of the Dutch colonists, in the early times of the
province, just about the beginning of the government of the good Peter
Stuyvesant, (may he rest in peace!) and there were some of the houses of
the original settlers standing within a few years, built of small yellow
bricks brought from Holland, having latticed windows and gable fronts,
surmounted with weathercocks.
In that same village, and in one of these very houses (which, to tell the
precise truth, was sadly time-worn and weather-beaten), there lived many
years since, while the country was yet a province of Great Britain, a simple
good-natured fellow, of the name of Rip Van Winkle. He was a descendant
of the Van Winkles who figured so gallantly in the chivalrous days of
Peter Stuyvesant, and accompanied him to the siege of Fort Christina. He
inherited, however, but little of the martial character of his ancestors. I
have observed that he was a simple good-natured man; he was, moreover,
a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband. Indeed, to the latter
circumstance might be owing that meekness of spirit which gained him
such universal popularity; for those men are most apt to be obsequious and
conciliating abroad, who are under the discipline of shrews at home. Their
tempers, doubtless, are rendered pliant and malleable in the fiery furnace
of domestic tribulation, and a curtain lecture is worth all the sermons in the
world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering. A termagant
wife may, therefore, in some respects, be considered a tolerable blessing;
and if so, Rip Van Winkle was thrice blessed.
Certain it is, that he was a great favorite among all the good wives of
the village, who, as usual with the amiable sex, took his part in all family
squabbles; and never failed, whenever they talked those matters over in
their evening gossipings, to lay all the blame on Dame Van Winkle. The
children of the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached.
He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites
and shoot marbles, and told them long stories of ghosts, witches, and
Indians. Whenever he went dodging about the village, he was surrounded
by a troop of them, hanging on his skirts, clambering on his back, and
playing a thousand tricks on him with impunity; and not a dog would bark
at him throughout the neighborhood.
The great error in Rip's composition was an insuperable aversion to all
kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity or
perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy
as a Tartar's lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he
should not be encouraged by a single nibble. He would carry a fowlingpiece on his shoulder for hours together, trudging through woods and
swamps, and up hill and down dale, to shoot a few squirrels or wild
pigeons. He would never refuse to assist a neighbor even in the roughest
toil, and was a foremost man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn,
or building stone-fences; the women of the village, too, used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging
husbands would not do for them. 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.
In fact, he declared it was of no use to work on his farm; it was the
most pestilent little piece of ground in the whole country; every thing
about it went wrong, and would go wrong, in spite of him. His fences were
continually falling to pieces; his cow would either go astray, or get among
the cabbages; weeds were sure to grow quicker in his fields than anywhere
else; the rain always made a point of setting in just as he had some outdoor work to do; so that though his patrimonial estate had dwindled away
under his management, acre by acre, until there was little more left than a
mere patch of Indian corn and potatoes, yet it was the worst-conditioned
farm in the neighborhood.
His children, too, were as ragged and wild as if they belonged to
nobody. His son Rip, an urchin begotten in his own likeness, promised to
inherit the habits, with the old clothes of his father. He was generally seen
trooping like a colt at his mother's heels, equipped in a pair of his father's
cast-off galligaskins, which he had much ado to hold up with one hand, as
a fine lady does her train in bad weather.
Rip Van Winkle, however, was one of those happy mortals, of foolish,
well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown,
whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve
on a penny than work for a pound. If left to himself, he would have
whistled life away in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually
dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was
bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was
incessantly going, and every thing he said or did was sure to produce a
torrent of household eloquence. Rip had but one way of replying to all
lectures of the kind, and that, by frequent use, had grown into a habit. He
shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, cast up his eyes, but said nothing.
This, however, always provoked a fresh volley from his wife; so that he
was fain to draw off his forces, and take to the outside of the house—the
only side which, in truth, belongs to a hen-pecked husband.
Rip's sole domestic adherent was his dog Wolf, who was as much henpecked as his master; for Dame Van Winkle regarded them as companions
in idleness, and even looked upon Wolf with an evil eye, as the cause of
his master's going so often astray. True it is, in all points of spirit befitting
an honorable dog, he was as courageous an animal as ever scoured the
woods—but what courage can withstand the ever-during and all-besetting
terrors of a woman's tongue? The moment Wolf entered the house his
crest fell, his tail drooped to the ground or curled between his legs, he
sneaked about with a gallows air, casting many a sidelong glance at Dame
Van Winkle, and at the least flourish of a broomstick or ladle, he would fly
to the door with yelping precipitation.
Times grew worse and worse with Rip Van Winkle as years of
matrimony rolled on; a tart temper never mellows with age, and a sharp
tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use. For a
long while he used to console himself, when driven from home, by
frequenting a kind of perpetual club of the sages, philosophers, and other idle personages of the village; which held its sessions on a bench before a
small inn, designated by a rubicund portrait of His Majesty George the
Third. Here they used to sit in the shade through a long, lazy summer's
day, talking listlessly over village gossip, or telling endless sleepy stories
about nothing. But it would have been worth any statesman's money to
have heard the profound discussions that sometimes took place when by
chance an old newspaper fell into their hands from some passing traveller.
How solemnly they would listen to the contents, as drawled out by Derrick
Van Bummel, the schoolmaster, a dapper, learned little man, who was not
to be daunted by the most gigantic word in the dictionary; and how sagely
they would deliberate upon public events some months after they had
taken place.The opinions of this junto were completely controlled by Nicholas
Vedder, a patriarch of the village, and landlord of the inn, at the door of
which he took his seat from morning till night, just moving sufficiently to
avoid the sun and keep in the shade of a large tree; so that the neighbors could tell the hour by his movements as accurately as by a sun-dial. It is
true, he was rarely heard to speak, but smoked his pipe incessantly. His
adherents, however, (for every great man has his adherents), perfectly
understood him, and knew how to gather his opinions. When any thing that
was read or related displeased him, he was observed to smoke his pipe
vehemently, and to send forth short, frequent, and angry puffs; but when
pleased, he would inhale the smoke slowly and tranquilly, and emit it in
light and placid clouds; and sometimes, taking the pipe from his mouth,
and letting the fragrant vapor curl about his nose, would gravely nod his
head in token of perfect approbation.
From even this stronghold the unlucky Rip was at length routed by his
termagant wife, who would suddenly break in upon the tranquillity of the
assemblage, and call the members all to nought; nor was that august
personage, Nicholas Vedder himself, sacred from the daring tongue of this
terrible virago, who charged him outright with encouraging her husband in
habits of idleness.
Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative,
to escape from the labor of the farm and the clamor of his wife, was to take
gun in hand and stroll away into the woods. Here he would sometimes seat
himself at the foot of a tree, and share the contents of his wallet with Wolf,
with whom he sympathized as a fellow-sufferer in persecution. "Poor
Wolf," he would say, "thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it; but never
mind, my lad, whilst I live thou shalt never want a friend to stand by thee!"
Wolf would wag his tail, look wistfully in his master's face, and if dogs
can feel pity I verily believe he reciprocated the sentiment with all his
heart.
In a long ramble of the kind on a fine autumnal day, Rip had
unconsciously scrambled to one of the highest parts of the Kaatskill
mountains. He was after his favorite sport of squirrel shooting, and the still
solitudes had echoed and re-echoed with the reports of his gun. Panting
and fatigued, he threw himself, late in the afternoon, on a green knoll,
covered with mountain herbage, that crowned the brow of a precipice.
From an opening between the trees he could overlook all the lower country
for many a mile of rich woodland. He saw at a distance the lordly Hudson,
far, far below him, moving on its silent but majestic course, with the reflection of a purple cloud, or the sail of a lagging bark, here and there
sleeping on its glassy bosom, and at last losing itself in the blue highlands.
On the other side he looked down into a deep mountain glen, wild,
lonely, and shagged, the bottom filled with fragments from the impending
cliffs, and scarcely lighted by the reflected rays of the setting sun. For
some time Rip lay musing on this scene; evening was gradually advancing;
the mountains began to throw their long blue shadows over the valleys; he
saw that it would be dark long before he could reach the village, and he
heaved a heavy sigh when he thought of encountering the terrors of Dame
Van Winkle.
As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance
hallooing, "Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!" He looked round, but
could see nothing but a crow winging its solitary flight across the
mountain. He thought his fancy must have deceived him, and turned again
to descend, when he heard the same cry ring through the still evening air:
"Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!"—at the same time Wolf bristled up
his back, and giving a low growl, skulked to his master's side, looking
fearfully down into the glen. Rip now felt a vague apprehension stealing
over him; he looked anxiously in the same direction, and perceived a
strange figure slowly toiling up the rocks, and bending under the weight of
something he carried on his back. He was surprised to see any human
being in this lonely and unfrequented place, but supposing it to be some
one of the neighborhood in need of his assistance, he hastened down to
yield it.
On nearer approach, he was still more surprised at the singularity of the
stranger's appearance. He was a short, square-built old fellow, with thick
bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. His dress was of the antique Dutch
fashion—a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist—several pairs of
breeches, the outer one of ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons
down the sides and bunches at the knees. He bore on his shoulder a stout
keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and
assist him with the load. Though rather shy and distrustful of this new
acquaintance, Rip complied with his usual alacrity; and mutually relieving
one another, they clambered up a narrow gully, apparently the dry bed of a
mountain torrent. As they ascended, Rip every now and then heard long rolling peals, like distant thunder, that seemed to issue out of a deep
ravine, or rather cleft, between lofty rocks, toward which their rugged path
conducted. He paused for an instant, but supposing it to be the muttering of
one of those transient thunder-showers which often take place in the
mountain heights, he proceeded. Passing through the ravine, they came to
a hollow, like a small amphitheatre, surrounded by perpendicular
precipices, over the brinks of which impending trees shot their branches,
so that you only caught glimpses of the azure sky, and the bright evening
cloud. During the whole time, Rip and his companion had labored on in
silence; for though the former marvelled greatly what could be the object
of carrying a keg of liquor up this wild mountain, yet there was something
strange and incomprehensible about the unknown, that inspired awe and
checked familiarity.
On entering the amphitheatre, new objects of wonder presented
themselves. On a level spot in the centre was a company of odd-looking
personages playing at nine-pins. They were dressed in quaint outlandish
fashion; some wore short doublets, others jerkins, with long knives in their
belts, and most of them had enormous breeches, of similar style with that
of the guide's. Their visages, too, were peculiar; one had a large head,
broad face, and small piggish eyes; the face of another seemed to consist
entirely of nose, and was surmounted by a white sugar-loaf hat, set off
with a little red cock's tail. They all had beards, of various shapes and
colors. There was one who seemed to be the commander. He was a stout
old gentleman, with a weather-beaten countenance; he wore a laced
doublet, broad belt and hanger, high-crowned hat and feather, red
stockings, and high-heeled shoes, with roses in them. The whole group
reminded Rip of the figures in an old Flemish painting, in the parlor of
Dominie Van Schaick, the village parson, and which had been brought
over from Holland at the time of the settlement.
What seemed particularly odd to Rip was, that though these folks were
evidently amusing themselves, yet they maintained the gravest face, the
most mysterious silence, and were, withal, the most melancholy party of
pleasure he had ever witnessed. Nothing interrupted the stillness of the
scene but the noise of the balls, which, whenever they were rolled, echoed
along the mountains like rumbling peals of thunder.
As Rip and his companion approached them, they suddenly desisted
from their play, and stared at him with such fixed, statue-like gaze, and
such strange, uncouth, lack-lustre countenances, that his heart turned
within him, and his knees smote together. His companion now emptied the
contents of the keg into large flagons, and made signs to him to wait upon
the company. He obeyed with fear and trembling; they quaffed the liquor
in profound silence, and then returned to their game.
By degrees Rip's awe and apprehension subsided. He even ventured,
when no eye was fixed upon him, to taste the beverage, which he found
had much of the flavor of excellent Hollands. He was naturally a thirsty
soul, and was soon tempted to repeat the draught. One taste provoked
another; and he reiterated his visits to the flagon so often that at length his
senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his head gradually
declined, and he fell into a deep sleep.
On waking, he found himself on the green knoll whence he had first
seen the old man of the glen. He rubbed his eyes—it was a bright sunny
morning. The birds were hopping and twittering among the bushes, and the
eagle was wheeling aloft, and breasting the pure mountain breeze.
"Surely," thought Rip, "I have not slept here all night." He recalled the
occurrences before he fell asleep. The strange man with a keg of liquor—
the mountain ravine—the wild retreat among the rocks—the woebegone
party at nine-pins—the flagon—"Oh! that flagon! that wicked flagon!"
thought Rip—"what excuse shall I make to Dame Van Winkle?"
He looked round for his gun, but in place of the clean, well-oiled
fowling-piece, he found an old firelock lying by him, the barrel incrusted
with rust, the lock falling off, and the stock worm-eaten. He now suspected
that the grave roysterers of the mountain had put a trick upon him, and
having dosed him with liquor, had robbed him of his gun. Wolf, too, had
disappeared, but he might have strayed away after a squirrel or partridge.
He whistled after him and shouted his name, but all in vain; the echoes
repeated his whistle and shout, but no dog was to be seen.
He determined to revisit the scene of the last evening's gambol, and if
he met with any of the party, to demand his dog and gun. As he rose to
walk, he found himself stiff in the joints, and wanting in his usual activity.
"These mountain beds do not agree with me," thought Rip, "and if this frolic should lay me up with a fit of the rheumatism, I shall have a blessed
time with Dame Van Winkle." With some difficulty he got down into the
glen: he found the gully up which he and his companion had ascended the
preceding evening; but to his astonishment a mountain stream was now
foaming down it, leaping from rock to rock, and filling the glen with
babbling murmurs. He, however, made shift to scramble up its sides,
working his toilsome way through thickets of birch, sassafras, and witchhazel, and sometimes tripped up or entangled by the wild grape-vines that
twisted their coils or tendrils from tree to tree, and spread a kind of
network in his path.
At length he reached to where the ravine had opened through the cliffs
to the amphitheatre; but no traces of such opening remained. The rocks
presented a high impenetrable wall, over which the torrent came tumbling
in a sheet of feathery foam, and fell into a broad deep basin, black from the
shadows of the surrounding forest. Here, then, poor Rip was brought to a
stand. He again called and whistled after his dog; he was only answered by
the cawing of a flock of idle crows, sporting high in the air about a dry tree
that overhung a sunny precipice; and who, secure in their elevation,
seemed to look down and scoff at the poor man's perplexities. What was to
be done? the morning was passing away, and Rip felt famished for want of
his breakfast. He grieved to give up his dog and gun; he dreaded to meet
his wife; but it would not do to starve among the mountains. He shook his
head, shouldered the rusty firelock, and, with a heart full of trouble and
anxiety, turned his steps homeward.
As he approached the village he met a number of people, but none
whom he new, which somewhat surprised him, for he had thought himself
acquainted with every one in the country round. Their dress, too, was of a
different fashion from that to which he was accustomed. They all stared at
him with equal marks of surprise, and whenever they cast their eyes upon
him, invariably stroked their chins. The constant recurrence of this gesture
induced Rip, involuntarily, to do the same, when, to his astonishment, he
found his beard had grown a foot long!
He had now entered the skirts of the village. A troop of strange
children ran at his heels, hooting after him, and pointing at his gray beard.
The dogs, too, not one of which he recognized for an old acquaintance, barked at him as he passed. The very village was altered; it was larger and
more populous. There were rows of houses which he had never seen
before, and those which had been his familiar haunts had disappeared.
Strange names were over the doors—strange faces at the windows—every
thing was strange. His mind now misgave him; he began to doubt whether
both he and the world around him were not bewitched. Surely this was his
native village, which he had left but the day before. There stood the
Kaatskill mountains—there ran the silver Hudson at a distance—there was
every hill and dale precisely as it had always been—Rip was sorely
perplexed—"That flagon last night," thought he, "has addled my poor head
sadly!"
It was with some difficulty that he found the way to his own house,
which he approached with silent awe, expecting every moment to hear the
shrill voice of Dame Van Winkle. He found the house gone to decay—the
roof fallen in, the windows shattered, and the doors off the hinges. A halfstarved dog that looked like Wolf was skulking about it. Rip called him by name, but the cur snarled, showed his teeth, and passed on. This was an
unkind cut indeed.—"My very dog," sighed poor Rip, "has forgotten me!"
He entered the house, which, to tell the truth, Dame Van Winkle had
always kept in neat order. It was empty, forlorn, and apparently
abandoned. This desolateness overcame all his connubial fears—he called
loudly for his wife and children—the lonely chambers rang for a moment
with his voice, and then all again was silence.
He now hurried forth, and hastened to his old resort, the village inn—
but it too was gone. A large rickety wooden building stood in its place,
with great gaping windows, some of them broken and mended with old
hats and petticoats, and over the door was painted, "The Union Hotel, by
Jonathan Doolittle." Instead of the great tree that used to shelter the quiet
little Dutch inn of yore, there now was reared a tall, naked pole, with
something on the top that looked like a red night-cap, and from it was
fluttering a flag, on which was a singular assemblage of stars and stripes—
all this was strange and incomprehensible. He recognized on the sign,
however, the ruby face of King George, under which he had smoked so
many a peaceful pipe; but even this was singularly metamorphosed. The
red coat was changed for one of blue and buff, a sword was held in the
hand instead of a sceptre, the head was decorated with a cocked hat, and
underneath was painted in large characters, GENERAL WASHINGTON.
There was, as usual, a crowd of folk about the door, but none that Rip
recollected. The very character of the people seemed changed. There was a
busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed
phlegm and drowsy tranquillity. He looked in vain for the sage Nicholas
Vedder, with his broad face, double chin, and fair long pipe, uttering
clouds of tobacco smoke, instead of idle speeches; or Van Bummel, the
schoolmaster, doling forth the contents of an ancient newspaper. In place
of these, a lean, bilious-looking fellow, with his pockets full of handbills,
was haranguing vehemently about rights of citizens—elections—members
of Congress—liberty—Bunker's hill—heroes of seventy-six—and other
words, which were a perfect Babylonish jargon to the bewildered Van
Winkle.
The appearance of Rip, with his long grizzled beard, his rusty fowlingpiece, his uncouth dress, and an army of women and children at his heels, soon attracted the attention of the tavern politicians. They crowded round
him, eying him from head to foot with great curiosity. The orator bustled
up to him, and, drawing him partly aside, inquired, "on which side he
voted?" Rip stared in vacant stupidity. Another short but busy little fellow
pulled him by the arm, and, rising on tiptoe, inquired in his ear, "whether
he was Federal or Democrat?" Rip was equally at a loss to comprehend the
question; when a knowing, self-important old gentleman in a sharp cocked
hat, made his way through the crowd, putting them to the right and left
with his elbows as he passed, and planting himself before Van Winkle,
with one arm akimbo, the other resting on his cane, his keen eyes and
sharp hat penetrating, as it were, into his very soul, demanded, in an
austere tone, "what brought him to the election with a gun on his shoulder,
and a mob at his heels, and whether he meant to breed a riot in the
village?" "Alas! gentlemen," cried Rip, somewhat dismayed, "I am a poor
quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless
him!"
Here a general shout burst from the bystanders—"A tory! a tory! a spy!
a refugee! hustle him! away with him!" It was with great difficulty that the
self-important man in the cocked hat restored order; and, having assumed a
tenfold austerity of brow, demanded again of the unknown culprit, what he
came there for, and whom he was seeking? The poor man humbly assured
him that he meant no harm, but merely came there in search of some of his
neighbors, who used to keep about the tavern.
"Well, who are they? Name them."
Rip bethought himself a moment, and inquired, "Where's Nicholas
Vedder?"
There was a silence for a little while, when an old man replied, in a
thin, piping voice, "Nicholas Vedder! why, he is dead and gone these
eighteen years! There was a wooden tombstone in the churchyard that used
to tell all about him, but that's rotten and gone too."
"Where's Brom Dutcher?"
"Oh, he went off to the army in the beginning of the war; some say he
was killed at the storming of Stony Point—others say he was drowned in a
squall at the foot of Antony's Nose. I don't know—he never came back
again."
"Where's Van Bummel, the schoolmaster?"
"He went off to the wars, too, was a great militia general, and is now in
Congress."
Rip's heart died away at hearing of these sad changes in his home and
friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world. Every answer puzzled
him too, by treating of such enormous lapses of time, and of matters which
he could not understand: war—Congress—Stony Point;—he had no
courage to ask after any more friends, but cried out in despair, "Does
nobody here know Rip Van Winkle?"
"Oh, Rip Van Winkle!" exclaimed two or three, "Oh, to be sure! that's
Rip Van Winkle yonder, leaning against the tree."
Rip looked, and beheld a precise counterpart of himself, as he went up
the mountain: apparently as lazy, and certainly as ragged. The poor fellow
was now completely confounded. He doubted his own identity, and
whether he was himself or another man. In the midst of his bewilderment,
the man in the cocked hat demanded who he was, and what was his name?
"God knows," exclaimed he, at his wit's end; "I'm not myself—I'm
somebody else—that's me yonder—no—that's somebody else got into my
shoes—I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and
they've changed my gun, and every thing's changed, and I'm changed, and
I can't tell what's my name, or who I am!"
The bystanders began now to look at each other, nod, wink
significantly, and tap their fingers against their foreheads. There was a
whisper, also, about securing the gun, and keeping the old fellow from
doing mischief, at the very suggestion of which the self-important man in
the cocked hat retired with some precipitation. At this critical moment a
fresh, comely woman pressed through the throng to get a peep at the graybearded man. She had a chubby child in her arms, which, frightened at his
looks, began to cry. "Hush, Rip," cried she, "hush, you little fool; the old
man won't hurt you." The name of the child, the air of the mother, the tone
of her voice, all awakened a train of recollections in his mind. "What is
your name, my good woman?" asked he.
"Judith Gardenier."
"And your father's name?"
"Ah! poor man, Rip Van Winkle was his name, but it's twenty years
since he went away from home with his gun, and never has been heard of
since—his dog came home without him; but whether he shot himself, or
was carried away by the Indians, nobody can tell. I was then but a little
girl."
Rip had but one question more to ask; but he put it with a faltering
voice:
"Where's your mother?"
"Oh, she too had died but a short time since; she broke a blood-vessel
in a fit of passion at a New England peddler."
There was a drop of comfort, at least, in this intelligence. The honest
man could contain himself no longer. He caught his daughter and her child
in his arms. "I am your father!" cried he—"Young Rip Van Winkle once—
old Rip Van Winkle now! Does nobody know poor Rip Van Winkle?"
All stood amazed, until an old woman, tottering out from among the
crowd, put her hand to her brow, and peering under it in his face for a
moment, exclaimed, "Sure enough! it is Rip Van Winkle—it is himself!
Welcome home again, old neighbor. Why, where have you been these
twenty long years?"
Rip's story was soon told, for the whole twenty long years had been to
him but as one night. The neighbors stared when they heard it; some were
seen to wink at each other, and put their tongues in their cheeks: and the
self-important man in the cocked hat, who, when the alarm was over, had
returned to the field, screwed down the corners of his mouth, and shook his
head—upon which there was a general shaking of the head throughout the
assemblage.
It was determined, however, to take the opinion of old Peter
Vanderdonk, who was seen slowly advancing up the road. He was a
descendant of the historian of that name, who wrote one of the earliest
accounts of the province. Peter was the most ancient inhabitant of the
village, and well versed in all the wonderful events and traditions of the
neighborhood. He recollected Rip at once, and corroborated his story in the
most satisfactory manner. He assured the company that it was a fact,
handed down from his ancestor the historian, that the Kaatskill mountains
had always been haunted by strange beings. That it was affirmed that the great Hendrick Hudson, the first discoverer of the river and country, kept a
kind of vigil there every twenty years, with his crew of the Half-moon;
being permitted in this way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise, and keep
a guardian eye upon the river, and the great city called by his name. That
his father had once seen them in their old Dutch dresses playing at ninepins in a hollow of the mountain; and that he himself had heard, one
summer afternoon, the sound of their balls, like distant peals of thunder.
To make a long story short, the company broke up, and returned to the
more important concerns of the election. Rip's daughter took him home to
live with her; she had a snug, well-furnished house, and a stout, cheery
farmer for a husband, whom Rip recollected for one of the urchins that
used to climb upon his back. As to Rip's son and heir, who was the ditto of
himself, seen leaning against the tree, he was employed to work on the
farm; but evinced an hereditary disposition to attend to any thing else but
his business.
Rip now resumed his old walks and habits; he soon found many of his
former cronies, though all rather the worse for the wear and tear of time;
and preferred making friends among the rising generation, with whom be
soon grew into great favor.
Having nothing to do at home, and being arrived at that happy age
when a man can be idle with impunity, he took his place once more on the
bench at the inn door, and was reverenced as one of the patriarchs of the
village, and a chronicle of the old times "before the war." It was some time
before he could get into the regular track of gossip, or could be made to
comprehend the strange events that had taken place during his torpor. How
that there had been a revolutionary war—that the country had thrown off
the yoke of old England—and that, instead of being a subject to his
Majesty George the Third, he was now a free citizen of the United States.
Rip, in fact, was no politician; the changes of states and empires made but
little impression on him; but there was one species of despotism under
which he had long groaned, and that was—petticoat government. Happily
that was at an end; he had got his neck out of the yoke of matrimony, and
could go in and out whenever he pleased, without dreading the tyranny of
Dame Van Winkle. Whenever her name was mentioned, however, he
shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, and cast up his eyes; which might pass either for an expression of resignation to his fate, or joy at his
deliverance.He used to tell his story to every stranger that arrived at Mr. Doolittle's
hotel. He was observed, at first, to vary on some points every time he told
it, which was, doubtless, owing to his having so recently awaked. It at last
settled down precisely to the tale I have related, and not a man, woman, or
child in the neighborhood, but knew it by heart. Some always pretended to
doubt the reality of it, and insisted that Rip had been out of his head, and
that this was one point on which he always remained flighty. The old
Dutch inhabitants, however, almost universally gave it full credit. Even to
this day they never hear a thunder-storm of a summer afternoon about the
Kaatskill, but they say Hendrick Hudson and his crew are at their game of
nine-pins; and it is a common wish of all hen-pecked husbands in the
neighborhood, when life hangs heavy on their hands, that they might have
a quieting draught out of Rip Van Winkle's flagon.