Rip Van Winkle was 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 America.