Rip Van Winkle

Long ago, in a little village near the Catskill Mountains, lived a man named Rip Van Winkle. Rip was kind and friendly, and all the children in the village loved him. He played games with them, made them kites, and told them wonderful stories. But Rip did not like to work on his farm, so his fences fell down and his weeds grew tall. His wife wished he would help out more.

One fine autumn day, Rip went for a long walk up into the mountains. He climbed higher and higher, until the village looked tiny far below. As the sun began to set, he heard a voice calling, “Rip Van Winkle, Rip Van Winkle!” He turned around and saw a short old man with a long gray beard, carrying a heavy bag.

Rip helped the little man carry the bag up to a hidden hollow in the mountains. There, a group of strange little men in old-fashioned clothes were playing a game of ninepins. Every time a ball rolled and the pins fell down, a sound like thunder boomed over the hills. The little men did not say a word, and they did not smile. Rip sat down under a tree to watch, and the rumbling sound made him very sleepy. Soon his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep, deep sleep.

When Rip woke up, the sun was shining, and the little men were gone. His beard had turned white, and it was so long that it reached down to his belt. “How strange,” said Rip, “I have only slept for one night.” He walked slowly back down the mountain to his village.

But the village had changed! There were new houses, new shops, and lots of people he had never seen before. Nobody knew who he was, and they all stared at his long white beard. At last, a young woman holding a baby came up to him. “My father was Rip Van Winkle, but he went into the mountains twenty years ago and never came back,” she said. “I am your father!” cried Rip, and he hugged his daughter tight.

Rip had slept for twenty whole years! He went to live with his daughter and her family, and he was very happy. Now he was too old to work on the farm, so he sat on a bench outside the inn every day. And he told everyone who passed by about the strange little men and his very, very long sleep.