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What role does myth play in Rip Van Winkle?

"Rip Van Winkle" is a myth within a myth. A myth can be loosely described as a story with an element of the supernatural. Diedrich Knickerbocker is a fictional man who gathers stories from the locals in the Catskill Mountains. According to the fictional story, Knickerbocker is the man who recorded the myth of Rip Van Winkle. In his history, the spirits that Rip meets are claimed to be real. The myth of Rip Van Winkle involves the title character coming across ghosts of ancient explorers in the mountains.


According to the myth, Rip Van Winkle goes into the mountains on an autumn day.  He comes across a lone man and follows him. This man is carrying a heavy keg:



His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion—a cloth jerkin strapped around the waist—several pair 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 shoulders a stout keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with the load ("Rip Van Winkle").



Rip follows the man and helps him. He soon discovers more strangely dressed men. They are drinking and playing ninepins. Rip falls asleep and wakes up after twenty years. He eventually discovers that the men had been the spirits of Hendrick (Henry) Hudson and his crew. According to the legend, they appear every twenty years to play ninepins and drink.

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