No passado, Bartels despistara a todos e conseguira fugir misteriosamente do sanatório em que estava internado. E se, também no Brasil, o velho entomologista tivesse escapado misteriosamente do incêndio que provocara? E se Bartels, na verdade tivesse colocado sua joia de família no corpo de outra pessoa para que todos pensassem que ele tivesse morrido? Reflita sobre essa possibilidade: o que aconteceria? Ele mudaria para outro lugar? Continuaria a matar ruivos? Seria descoberto? Que tal recontar essa história, escrevendo um novo final para O escaravelho do diabo?
Soluções para a tarefa
Resposta:
utor do conto original: Washington Irving
Diedrich Knickerbocker, an old New York gentleman with an interest in
the histories and stories told by the descendants of Dutch settlers in New York
in the early 19th century, narrates the story of a simple, good-natured man
named Rip Van Winkle, who lives in a small village in the Catskills. Though
[5] Rip comes from a family full of chivalrous and militaristically successful men,
he is unconcerned with such things and is chiefly occupied with escaping
his duties to his home and family and avoiding his nagging wife, Dame Van
Winkle. He spends most of his day out of the house with his dog Wolf, where
his wife can’t reach him as easily, either talking with townspeople at the inn,
[10] hunting squirrels, fishing or helping on farms other than his own.
One day Dame Van Winkle is so persistent in her haranguing pursuit of
Rip that he flees to the woods with his gun and dog. He absently follows a
squirrel high into the Catskill Mountains and ends up taking a nap. Just as the
day’s light is fading and Rip is preparing to go back down the mountain, he
[15] encounters a stranger. The stranger is holding a heavy keg on his back, and
Rip, drawn by some mysterious force, helps the stranger carry the keg to the
top of the mountain where he finds strange men wearing antiquated clothing
playing ninepins (these men are the spirits of Hendrick Hudson and the crew
of the ship Half Moon, though Rip doesn’t know that). Rip is instructed to serve
[20] them a drink that is so enticing that Rip secretly tastes some himself, and
then consumes it immoderately and falls into a deep sleep on the mountain.
When Rip wakes up he assumes he has slept through the night, and
worries about the backlash he will face from Dame Van Winkle. But soon it
becomes apparent that something strange has happened. The gun by his
[25] side is an old and rusty one, and his beard is now a foot long. His joints
are stiff, and he finds it difficult to climb the mountain. He tries to locate the
peak on which he fell asleep but cannot find it. Wolf is also nowhere to be
found, and after searching for him as long as he could, Rip apprehensively
descends the mountain with the rusty gun, dreading his reunion with his wife.
[30] Though the path is nowhere to be found and the landscape is strange, Rip
successfully makes his way back to the village.
On the outskirts of the village a group of children – none of whom are
familiar to Rip – chase after him and point at his beard. Rip notices that the
village is now larger and more populated. New houses line the roads and
[35] unfamiliar faces peer out at him from windows. Perplexed, Rip finds his old
house. He expects to hear his wife yelling at him with a sharp voice, but never
does. What’s more, his house is dilapidated, as though no one has tended to
it in a very long time. He sees a dog that resembles Wolf, but the dog is dirty
and emaciated, and does not recognize Rip. He goes to the inn to look for his
[40] old friends and finds in its place the Union Hotel.
Rip introduced himself to the strangers at the hotel as a “loyal subject
of the king” but this is met with outrage. He discovers that 20 years have
passed since he went up the mountain. The American Revolution has taken
place. His friends and neighbors Nicholas Vedder and Brom Ducher are
[45] dead, and Derrick Van Bummel is working in the newly established American
Congress. His son Rip Van Winkle Jr. has grown up to be just like his father,
and his daughter Judith has married and has a child (Rip Van Winkle III).
The townspeople come to believe Rip’s story on the mountain after his tale is
corroborated and explained by the oldest man in town, Peter Vanderdonk, and
[50] the townsfolk eventually turn their attention back to the upcoming presidential
election. Rip moves in with his daughter and spends the rest of his days living
as he did prior to his disappearance, only now he has no need to worry about
his wife’s intrusion and lives freely and peacefully.