Rip Van Winkle is described as a good-natured, lazy man. Years passed and his wife, Dame Van Winkle always got angry and frustrated because Rip never took care of their farm. She became bad-tempered and quarrelsome toward him at times. Poor Rip was at last reduced to despair, and his only alternative was to escape from the labor of the farm and his wife. This was the start of his long, endless journey to a mysterious future...

He woke up twenty years later. Another object of the supernatural that Irving showed in his writing is how he slept for exactly twenty years. This is a feat that could never really be done. A second journey Rip embarks on is one that keeps him away from home and loved ones. It involves some mystical but realistic adventures. Once he awakes, no one knows who he is which some-what surprised him. Another principle in a folktale is the various encounters made. Rip met up with the fellow townspeople, who tried to convict him as a spy. Their dress was a different fashion then what he was accustomed to. His house had gone to decay-the roof fallen, windows shattered, and the doors off the hinges. Then all again there was a deep silence when he called out to his wife and children. The disoriented old man is confused and doesn't understand how and why everything is changed. His life may be forever altered.

Rip encounters some man named Rip Van Winkle. This man is a mirror image of Rip, who happens to be his son. Now his confusion extends beyond the bizarre sequence of events that have confronted him. He begins to question his own personal identity. He doesn’t know if he is himself or another man. Rip exclaims, “I was myself last night, but I fell asleep on the mountain, and everything is changed, and I’m changed, and I cant tell whats my name, or who I am!” The truth is an important quality in a folktale. The truth tells all, and Rip needs to find his true self. His confusion is increasing and he is losing control of the situation. He desperately wants to believe that he is himself, but he cant find anything or anyone t

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