Rip Van Winkle eas a character in a short story by the American writer Washington Irving. In the story,Rip lived in a little town in the Hudson Valley,in New York,in the 1770s,around the time of the American Revolution. Rip went out hunting one day,took a nap under a tree,and fell asleep. He woke up 20 years later to find himself a citizen of a brand-new country-the United States of Americe.