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1. Explain the relationship of Washington Irving, Diedrich Knickerbocker, and Geoffrey Crayon.

Washington Irving is the author of "Rip Van Winkle," but he wrote it under the pseudonym "Geoffrey Crayon." The story of "Rip Van Winkle" has a frame narrator, who is a fictional historian called Diedrich Knickerbocker.

2. Explain what the frame narrative says about the historian who recorded Rip's story--where does his work come from, and how reliable is it?

The frame narrative says that a Dutch historian called Diedrich Knickerbocker gathered information from the wives of old Dutch families--the "burghers." It claims that Knickerbocker's work has been scrutinized and found to be very accurate.

3. Describe the contents of the story's epigraph and tell how this relates to the frame narrative.

The story's epigraph is a quote from a play by William Cartwright, and it is a character swearing by the Saxon god Woden to always be truthful. This reinforces the claim of the frame narrative that the story of Rip Van Winkle can be trusted.

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