NCERT Book Class 5 English (Marigold) Chapter 5 Rip Van Winkle

Unit 5
Rip Van Winkle
This story is about Rip Van Winkle, a good-natured
but lazy man, who goes away into the hills and
falls asleep. When he awakens twenty years later,
Rip finds that quite a few things have changed!

Many years ago, at the foothills of the Kaatskill (Kat-skill)
mountains, was a little village. In the village lived a
simple, good-natured fellow named Rip Van Winkle. He
was a kind neighbour, ready to help anyone. Everyone in
the village liked him. The children of the village shouted
with joy whenever they saw him because he played with
them, he taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and
told them long stories.
The only problem with Rip was that he was very lazy.
He did no work on his own farm and just idled away his
time. His fences were falling to pieces. His cow was going
astray. Weeds grew on his farm. Rip's constant
companion was his dog, named Wolf. To avoid work, he
would walk away into the forest with his dog.
One day, Rip just walked on and on and reached the
highest part of the mountains. It was late in the
afternoon when he reached there. Tired after his long
climb, he lay down and began daydreaming. It was soon
evening and he realised it would be night by the time he
reached his village.

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