Rip Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle was a lazy boy. He was so lazy that he slept the whole
day. His mother tried her best to get Rip Van Winkle to take up a job.
When he did get a job, he was asked to leave because he slept too much.
One day, Rip Van Winkle, tired of his mother insisting on him getting
a job, ran up a mountain with his favourite companion, his dog and his
gun. He reached the top, crossed a stream, went to a spot where nobody
ever came and sat down panting. He had never had so much exercise in all
his life.
 He was just getting back his breath, when he heard someone call his
name. "Strange, nobody ever comes here and surely no one that I know,"
thought Rip Van Winkle. He turned to see a funny looking man carrying a
big barrel. The funny looking man said, "Please help me carry this
barrel to my mates a little below the stream."
Rip Van Winkle had climbed so far up the mountain to avoid work. Here
was a man asking for help. He first decided to refuse but then thought,
"Let's help the poor chap, then I can come and rest." So, he and the
funny looking man walked down to a cave in the mountain, below the
stream. There Rip Van Winkle saw many other funny looking men, all of
them were playing the game of nine pins. They ignored him. As soon as
the barrel was placed in the ground, the men pulled out mugs, dipped it
into the barrel and drank. It was wine.
Rip Van Winkle too dipped a mug in the barrel and drank the wine. It
tasted good. He thought he should have one more mug, then another and
another, until he found the room swinging in front of him. Rip Van
Winkle went to sleep.
When he awoke, he saw that all the funny looking men had gone. He
called out to his dog but there was no response. He could not believe he
had slept the whole day and night. He got up, his joints ached. He
picked up his gun. Instead of the clean well oiled piece, he found the
barrel rusted and the lock falling off. He threw it away.
As he started trudging back home, he saw the village down below,
which seemed somehow changed. When he entered the village he saw new
faces; all of them looked at him and rubbed their chins. Seeing them do
this, Rip Van Winkle did the same. To his astonishment he found he had
grown a foot long beard overnight.
Rip Van Winkle was puzzled; he believed that he knew most of the
village folks well but there did not seem to be anyone he knew around.
This was the same village, where he could see the mountains and the
streams. The children made fun of him, running behind him, pulling his
beard.
Rip Van Winkle stopped by a place where there had been a school and
asked the crowd that had gathered, "Where is Schooner, the school
master?" Somebody said, "Oh! Schooner, he went to war in sixty-three and
never came back." "And Van Dammel?" asked Rip Van Winkle. "He died
eighteen years ago," said another voice in the crowd. Rip Van Winkle
thought he was going mad. "Had he slept all these years on the
mountain?"
Finally Rip Van Winkle asked, "Does any one here remember Rip Van
Winkle?" A very old woman said, "Yes, he was my lazy son. He went up the
mountains 21 years ago but never returned. His dog came back without
him."
Rip Van Winkle was overjoyed. He said, "Mother, it is me Rip Van
Winkle. Don't you recognise me?" "Oh! My son. It is really you. Where
have you been all this while?" Mother and son hugged each other.
Rip Van Winkle had indeed slept for 21 years.
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