"Surely, I have not slept here all night," thought Rip.

He looked around for Wolf, but he was nowhere. Rip whistled for him. "Wolf! Wolf!" he then shouted.. No dog was to be seen. "Where has this dog gone?" he muttered to himself. He began to descend the mountain to go back to his village.

As he neared the village, he met a number of people but he didn't know any of them. The villagers also stared at him equally surprised. "Who is this man?" said one.

"I've never seen him before," said another, "look at his long white beard and his wrinkled face."

On hearing this, Rip stroked his chin and, to his astonishment, he found his beard had grown a foot long, and it was all white!

An old woman walked up to him and looked at his face for a moment. Then she exclaimed - "It is Rip Van Winkle! Welcome home again, old neighbour! Where have you been these twenty long years?

(Adapted from The Legend of Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving)