Rip Van Winkle
by Washington Irving Dramatized by Adele Thane
CHARACTERS
Rip Van Winkle
Dame Van Winkle, his wife
Judy, his daughter
Luke Gardenier, Judy's playmate
Katchen, Judy's playmate
Meenie, a girl, Judy's playmate
Jacob, Judy's playmate
Nicholas Vedder, landlord of the King George Tavern
Derrick Van Bummel, the schoolmaster
Peter Vanderdonk, Man of the village
Brom Dutcher, Man of the village
Offstage Voice, Man of the village
Hendrik Hudson
Sailors, Hudson’s crew
Orator
Jonathan Doolittle, proprietor of the Union Hotel
Judith Gardenier, Judy grown up
Little Rip, her son
Townspeople
Children
Scene 1
Time: Early autumn, a few years before the Revolutionary War.
Setting:A village in the Catskill Mountains 1 . At left, there is an inn with a sign, KING GEORGE TAVERN, and a picture of King George III 2 . A British Union Jack 3 hangs on the flagpole.
At Rise: Nicholas Vedder, Derrick Van Bummel, Brom Dutcher, and Peter Vanderdonk are seated outside the tavern. Vedder is sprawled back in his chair. Dutcher and Vanderdonk are at the table, playing a game of checkers. Van Bummel is reading aloud from a newspaper. From time to time, a rumble of thunder can be heard in the distance.
Van Bummel. (reading) “. . . and it has been learned that Massachusetts favors a Stamp Act Congress to be help in New York to protest English Taxation in the colonies.”
Dutcher. (looking up from his game) Good! It’s high time we did something about this English taxation.
Vanderdonk. Taxes and more taxes! The English are a pack of rascals with their hands in our pockets.
Van Bummel There’s even a revenue stamp on our newspapers. One of these days the people here in the American colonies will revolt, you mark my words.
Vedder. (pointing off right as a merry whistle is heard) Well, here comes one man who is not troubled by these problems – Rip Van Winkle. (Rip Van Winkle enters, a wooden bucket in one hand, his gun in the other. He props his gun against the tree trunk, then crosses to the group of men.)
Rip. Good afternoon, Nick Vedder—Brom—Peter. (to Van Bummel) Good afternoon, Mr. Schoolmaster. (They return his greeting. There is a loud rumble of thunder, and Rip cocks his head.) Just listen to that, will you!
Dutcher. We’re probably in for a storm after this heat all day.
Vedder. Sit down, Rip. Derrick is reading us the news.
Vanderdonk. How about a game of checkers, Rip?
Rip. (hesitating) I don’t know. Dame Van Winkle sent me for a bucket of water, but—maybe one game. (He sets down the bucket and draws a stool up to the table as Vanderdonk rises.)
Dutcher. Your move, Rip. (Suddenly Dame Van Winkle’s voice is heard from off right.)
Dame Van Winkle. (calling from off right) Rip! Rip! Rip Van Winkle!
Rip Oh, my galligaskinsgalligaskins! (Loose trousers; here the word is used as a mild exclamation.) It’s my wife! (Before he can get to his feet, Dame Van Winkle enters with a broom. She looks at men, then crosses directly to Rip.)
Dame Van Winkle So this is how you draw water from the well! Sitting around with a lot of lazy good-for-nothing loafers. (She tries to hit Rip with the broom.) Pick up that bucket, you dawdling Dutchman, and fill it with water!
Rip. (snatching up the bucket and dodging out of the way) Hey there, Dame, I’m not an old rug to be beaten with a broomstick.
Dame Van Winkle. Well, you might better be. An old rug is more use than you. At least it would keep our feet warm in winter, which is more than you can do. Little you care that your family is starving and the cow is gone.
Rip. The cow is gone?
Dame Van Winkle. Aye, the cow is gone, and the cabbage trampled down. When are you going to mend the fence?
Rip. It rained yesterday—
Dame Van Winkle. If excuses were shillings, we’d be rich!
Rip. I’ll mend the fence—tomorrow.
Dame Van Winkle. Tomorrow, tomorrow! All your work is going to be done tomorrow! (Rip goes to the well as she starts off right, still talking.) You show enough energy when there’s a husking beehusking bee: A festive gathering of neighbors to remove the leaflike coverings from harvested ears of corn. or an errand to run for the neighbors, but here at home . . . (She exits. Rip lowers his bucket into the well. The other men rise to go into the tavern.)
Vedder. Poor Rip! His wife has the scoldingest tongue in the Hudson Valley.
Van Bummel. A smart tongue is the only tool that grows keener with use.
Dutcher. What would you do, Derrick, if you had a wife like Van Winkle’s?
Van Bummel .War could be no worse. I would enlist. (They all laugh and exit through the door of the tavern. Rip turns to leave, then stops and smiles, as children’s voices are heard off left. Judy, Luke, Katchen, Meenie, holding a kite, and Jacob, carrying a bow, run in, left, and shout with delight when they see Rip.)
Children. (ad lib) There he is! There’s Rip Van Winkle! (They surround him, chattering excitedly.)
Judy. Hello, Father, I’ve brought some of my friends.
Rip. Glad to see you, children.
Jacob. (holding out bow) Oh, Rip, there’s something wrong with my bow. Every time I go to shoot, the cord slips. (Rip takes the bow, draws his knife from his pocket, and cuts the notch deeper for the cord.)
Rip. There, Jacob, try that, and see if it doesn’t work.
Jacob. (pretending to shoot) Yes, it’s all right now.
Meenie. (holding out kite) My kite won’t stay up, Rip.
Rip. (taking off part of the tail) Now it will, Meenie—and this breeze is just right for it. (He hands kite to Meenie.)
Katchen. My mother wants you to plug up her rain barrel so she’ll be able to wash next week.
Rip. Tell her I’ll fix it tonight, Katchen.
Luke. Rip, will you see what’s the matter with my whistle? I made it just the way you showed me, but it isn’t any good. (He hands Rip a whistle.)
Rip. (examining it). You haven’t whittled it right there, Luke. Here, I’ll fix it for you. (He sits on the bench under the tree and begins to whittle.)
Judy. Tell us a story, Father!
Luke. Yes, you tell better stories than anybody in the Catskills. (The children all gather around Rip, sitting on the ground.)
Rip. What shall it be about?
Jacob Indians!
Katchen. I like witches and goblins best. (A long roll of thunder is heard.)
Judy. Oh, Father, hear that! Hear the thunder!
Rip. Why, don’t you know what that is, Judy? That’s Hendrik Hudson and his famous crew playing ninepins: A bowling game in which nine pins are used up in the mountains. (More thunder is heard.) Meenie. Oh, what a noise they make!
Rip. Yes, they are jolly fellows. They sail the wide sea over in their ship, the Half-Moon, then every twenty years they come back to the Catskills.
Jacob. What do they do that for?
Rip. Oh, old Hendrik Hudson likes to revisit the country he discovered and keep a watchful eye over his river, the Hudson.
Jacob. I wish I could see Hendrik Hudson and his crew.
Rip. Peter Vanderdonk says his father saw them once in their funny breeches playing at ninepins up in the hills. (A loud peal of thunder is heard.) Listen to their balls rolling! That must be Hendrik Hudson himself, the Flying Dutchman! (Dame Van Winkle enters with broom as Rip is speaking.)
Dame Van Winkle. So! Here you are, telling stories without a word of truth in ‘em! Oh, I could tell a story or two myself—about a shiftless husband who does nothing but whittle and whistle. Whittle and whistle! What a job for a grown man! (She snatches the whistle from Rip.)
Luke. (pleadingly) It’s my whistle! Please don’t break it, Dame Van Winkle.
Dame Van Winkle. Take it and begone! (She gives Luke the whistle, and he runs off.) Judy, you go and ask Dame Vedder for an armful of wood. Your father is too busy spinning yarns to split wood for our fire. (Judy goes off behind the tavern.) As for the rest of you, go home if you have any homes, and don’t keep hanging around here like stray dogs looking for bones. (She sweeps the children off the stage with her broom.) Get along! Begone, all of you! Go home now! (With arms akimbo With arms akimbo: With hands on hips and elbows bent outward , she faces Rip.) Well, what do you have to say for yourself? (Rip shrugs, shakes his head and says nothing.) Nothing as usual. (Rip goes to the tree for his gun.) What are you getting your gun for? Going off to the mountains, no doubt. Anything to keep you out of the house.
Rip. (Good-naturedly) Well, wife, you have often told me—my side of the house is the outside. Where’s my dog? Where’s Wolf?
Dame Van Winkle. Wolf is tied up in the cellar.
Rip. You didn’t tie up Wolf?
Dame Van Winkle. I certainly did. That dog tracked up my kitchen floor right after I’d finished scrubbing it. Well, if you’re going hunting, go, and don’t come back until you bring us something for supper. And if you can’t bring any supper, don’t bring yourself.
Judy. (reentering from up left, her arms full of logs). But, Mother, it’s going to rain.
Dame Van Winkle. (taking the wood) Pooh! Your father won’t get as wet as we will in the house, with the roof leaking and the windows broken. You hurry home now. And bring that bucket of water your father managed to get this far. (Dame Van Winkle starts right, but Judy stays behind with Rip.)
Rip. (calling after his wife) Wife, turn Wolf loose when you get home. (Dame Van Winkle looks back at him angrily, tosses her head, and exits right.)
Judy. (starting to cry as she puts her hand in Rip’s). Father, where will you go if it rains?
Rip. I’ll find a place. Don’t cry, Judy. Remember your little song? Come, we’ll sing it together. (They sing an appropriate folk song, such as “Rosa, Will We Go Dancing?”)
Judy. (hugging Rip) Oh, Father, I hope you have wonderful luck. Then Mother won’t be so cross.
Rip. I don’t blame her for being cross with me sometimes. I guess I don’t do much work around here. But I’m going to do better, Judy. I’m going to do all the jobs your mother has been after me about.
Dame Van Winkle (calling from off) Ju-dee! Ju-dee! Rip There’s your mother. I’d better be off. Goodbye, Judy dear. (He walks left, whistling for his dog.) Come, Wolf! Come, boy! (A dog’s bark is heard off left as Rip turns, waves to Judy, and exits.)
Judy. (waving) Goodbye, Father. (Luke enters from right and joins Judy as loud crash of thunder is heard. Startled, Judy clings to Luke.) Oh, Luke, listen to that thunder!
Luke. It’s only Hendrik Hudson’s men playing ninepins. Don’t be scared, Judy.
Judy. I’m not—that is, not very.
Dame Van Winkle (calling from off) Judy! Ju-dee!
Luke. You’d better go in or you’ll catch it. Your mother is getting awfully free with her broomstick lately. Here, I’ll carry your bucket for you. (He exits right with the bucket of water. Judy lingers behind to look off in direction her father has taken as the thunder gets louder. Then humming softly to herself, she exits right.)
Curtain
Scene 2
Time: Later the same afternoon.
Setting: A forest glade, high in the Catskill Mountains. There is a tree stump at right center and a large bush at far left. This scene may be played before the curtain.
At Rise: Rip, carrying his gun, enters left, dragging his feet wearily. He sinks down on the stump.
Rip Whew! That was a climb! All the way up the mountain. How peaceful it is up here. No one to scold me, no one to wave a broomstick. Ah, me! (He gives a big sigh of contentment.) I wonder where Wolf is. Wolf! Here, boy! (He whistles, and a dog barks off left.) That’s it, Wolf, sic ‘em! I hope we get something this time. We can’t go home until we do. (A loud crash of thunder is heard.) That thunder sounds much louder up here in the mountains than down in the valley. Maybe it’s going to rain after all.
Voice. (calling from off, high-pitched, like a birdcall) Rip Van Winkle! (Rip looks around wonderingly.) Rip Van Winkle!
Rip. (rising) That’s my name. Somebody is calling me.
Voice. (off) Rip Van Winkle!
Rip. Is it Dame Van Winkle? No—she would never follow me up here. (Sound of a ship’s bell is heard from off right.) What was that? (Bell rings again.) A ship’s bell! But how can that be? A ship? Up here in the mountains? (He gazes off right, in astonishment.) It is a ship! Look at it! Sails all set—a Dutch flag at the masthead. (Ship’s bell is heard again, fainter.) There, it’s gone. I must have imagined it. (First Sailor, with a keg on his back, enters from right and goes to center as Rip watches him in amazement.) By my galligaskins, what a funny little man! And how strangely he’s dressed. Such old-fashioned clothes! (First Sailor stops at center. Rip goes to meet him.) Hello, old Dutchman. That keg looks heavy. Let me carry it for you. (He relieves First Sailor of the keg.) By golly, it is heavy! Why did you bring this keg all the way up here to the top of the mountain? And who are you, anyhow?