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Dion Boucicault(1865) Folk drama based on the Washington Irving story. Having drunk his wealth away, light-hearted Rip Van Winkle narrowly escapes capitalist Derrick von Beekman's scheme to trick him out of the deed to his land. Rip swears to give up drinking but succumbs one last time. On his return home, his wife turns him out. Rip sadly marches off into the snow, where he encounters an elfin crew and drinks himself into a stupor that lasts for twenty years. He returns unrecognised to find his wife married to Derrick, who maltreats her, claims Rip's son is dead, and is trying to force Rip's daughter to marry his nephew in order to obtain Rip's property. But the son reappears, and Rip reveals his identity, proving it with the deed he had carried with him ever since Derrick's attempt to get it years earlier. |
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