Dang. I wish I’d jotted down the table of contents for Over the Rainbow: Tales of Fantasy and Imagination (London: Octopus 1983). It had H.G. Wells’ “The Truth about Pyecraft”, I know, and a bit out of the Oz books with the Sawhorse and Jack Pumpkinhead, and Dr. Doolittle meeting the pushmi-pullyu, and the Bilbo and Gollum’s riddle game, and “Rip Van Winkle”, and a Joan Aiken story called “Harriet’s Hairloom”, and something out of the Narnia books, and a chapter from The Phoenix and the Carpet, and a bunch of other stuff besides. About a third of it was stuff I hadn’t read; some of the stuff I hadn’t read was good enough that I’d like to remember who wrote it. Ah, well.
By the way, off the top of your head (no looking, now), do you remember how long Rip van Winkle slept? YHB knows it a version quite different from Mr. Irving’s version. As it’s necessary to tell the story while crossing the Tappan Zee bridge, it’s awkward to think we’ve been telling it wrong the whole time. Or, of course, that Mr. Irving told it wrong...
,
-Vardibidian.
Rip van Winkle slept for 100 years. I’d settle for a solid 8 hours.
Hm, apparently I was exaggerating. Most sources indicate that Rip van Winkle slept for far less than 100 years (though one source indicated 700). And I’d settle for a solid 6 hours.
My memory was that Rip Van Winkle slept for 20 years. A little research indicates that was the figure that Washington Irving used, which doesn’t surprise me since I think that’s the only version of the story I know.
I would’ve said 20 as well. Though I have a vague notion that I’ve seen some other version (or similar story) with 100 years. Maybe Sleeping Beauty? Hey, if Sleeping Beauty married Rip Van Winkle…. I’m sure there’s a joke to be made there, but I’m not seeing it.
I’m not finding a TOC for Over the Rainbow, but combining a couple of sources yields the following list of authors:
Alan Garner, C. S. Lewis, E. Nesbit, Eric Linklater, H. G. Wells, Helen Cresswell, Hugh Lofting, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Aiken, L. Frank Baum, Lewis Carroll, Mary Norton, Norton Juster, Ruth Ainsworth, Ursula Le Guin, Washington Irving