Rip Van Winkle is an interesting folk tale that tells the story of a lazy man who minded his own business. Many haveheard the tale before, but few have actually read it. Inmy opinion the story is meant to be heard and not read. Ithink that is was written for the middle class, many ofwhom could not read any way. Hearing the story is muchmore effective than reading it. If you listen to thestory, the storyteller can use tone and other speakingdevices to set the scene and get the moral of the storyacross more easily. I especially liked the way thatIrving portrayed Rip as being such a submissive husband. The way that she described their relationship was quiteamusing. The fear that he had while he was finding his wayhome kept me interested. I wanted to find out what wasgoing to happen when he got home and had to confront hiswife. Come to find out that his wife was dead and hiswhole life had changed. I don't know how someone couldfall asleep for such a long time or what the moral of thestory is but it was a very interesting story. Afterhearing this story people wanted to work hard and not belazy like Rip Van Winkle. The story probably motivatedthem and that is probably why it was told. In the endeverything ended up ok for Rip but he missed so much oflife and so many important events....
