Was there any person that they called Rip Van Winkle? Or is he just a legend/story? My teacher made it sound like he was a real person.
2007-03-07 15:45:42 · 9 answers · asked by ? 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
While the name has probably existed on somebody in real life at least once in history, if you are asking about the guy who bowled with elves and fell asleep for a few decades- no, that one's not real.
2007-03-07 15:53:44 · answer #1 · answered by mina_lumina 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My great grandmother was descended from Van Winkles in the Catskill mountains of New York and she confided in me the real truth about her ancestor Rip Van Winkle. Here it is.
He was a real person. A lazy hen pecked husband with an ill tempered wife. At some point he went off to fight in the war against the British and afterwards started a new family with a new wife of better temper.
His new wife after many years grew tired of his laziness as well and kicked him out, causing him to go crawling back to the only other place and people he had ever known.
His story of falling asleep for twenty years probably was adapted from an old European fairy tale. His reason for its fabrication was simply to keep his grandchildren from finding out that he had abandoned their family.
So there you have it the true story of Rip Van Winkle. however I personally prefer the myth.
2015-11-05 06:14:19 · answer #2 · answered by Justin 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He's Related to Rob Van Winkle/vanilla ice
2007-03-07 15:50:12 · answer #3 · answered by Kanis 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I accually met a man in Texas by that name.He was a contruction worker.The other Rip Van Winkle is a myth as far as I can find.
2007-03-07 15:55:06 · answer #4 · answered by thresher 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From wikipedia
The story is a close adaptation of Peter Klaus the Goatherd by J.C.C. Nachtigal, which is a shorter story set in a German village. The choice of "Van Winkle" for the character's name may have been influenced by the fact that Irving's New York publisher was C. S. Van Winkle.
It is also close to Karl Katz, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. This story is almost identical. One difference is when he sees dwarfs playing a game of ninepins in a mountain meadow, he joins the game. The dwarfs give him a magic drink that makes him fall asleep for twenty years. It is implied that the dwarfs are teaching him a lesson about laziness.
The story is also remarkably similar to the ancient Jewish story about Honi the Circle-Maker who falls asleep after berating a very old man for planting a carob tree (which traditionally takes 70 years to mature). He sleeps under the tree, covered by the brush and out of sight for 70 years. When he awakens, he finds a fully mature tree and that he has a grandson. When nobody believes that he is Honi, he wishes death upon himself. Note also that the family name of Honi is as well a term of geometry ('Magel' is Hebrew for 'circle'), as well as the family name of Rip ('Winkel' is German for 'angle').
The story is also remarkably similar to a 3rd century AD Chinese tale of Ranka, as retold in Lionel Giles in A Gallery of Chinese Immortals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Van_Winkle
2007-03-07 15:55:24 · answer #5 · answered by Gene M 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ask vanilla ice......isn't his real last name an winkle? maybe they were related......
2007-03-07 16:26:39 · answer #6 · answered by Debbie S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope! That story is about as true as the headless horseman.
2007-03-07 15:51:19 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
just a story
2007-03-07 18:18:44 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
check the ripley's vault .
2015-09-25 14:14:28 · answer #9 · answered by mona 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋