Rip Van Winkle

a character in a story of the same name by Washington Irving, published in The Sketch Book in 1819. The scene is laid in the Catskill mountains where Rip Van Winkle, an easy-going "ne'er do weel," sleeps for twenty years and awakens to find changes in his home and native village which are to him most marvelous. The character is one of Irving's greatest creations and has been given added popularity by the actor, Joseph Jefferson. The story has been dramatized several times. Jefferson altered it and made it one of his most important roles.