mountain old man
The Mountain Inn
Vocabulary
| inn | foothill | spend (2) |
| roast | pickle | inn-keeper |
| alpine | set (2) | proprietor |
| beard | aroma | nestled |
| slope | fortune | nevertheless |
| calm | annoy | intently |
| senile |
The Vacation
After our university exams, I decided to take a vacation in the mountains.
I took a bus to the foothills and began walking up. After hiking all day, I stopped at a small inn to spend the night.
It also had a small restaurant. The day’s special was roasted chicken, pea soup, and pickled cabbage, prepared by the inn-keeper (proprietor owner), a middle-aged woman.
Dinner
So I had dinner (supper). It was delicious. After finishing, I sat and looked out the window. The sun was beginning to set over the forested mountains, while the stars came out. Lights came on in the houses in nearby houses. The aroma of cooking filled the air.
“How do you like our village?”
I jumped from my chair.
It was an old man with long, white beard.
The Old Man
“It’s very nice. I like these alpine houses nestled on the slopes of the mountain,” I told him.
“Yes, they certainly are pretty,” he said….”Say, I can tell fortunes. Let me tell your.”
“Haha…uh, no thanks.“
My Hand
Nevertheless, the old man took hold of my hand.
“I’ll tell your fortune.”
“Well….alright.” but before that, tell me about my past. If you can do that, you can tell my future too.”
“No problem,” said the old man.
He then looked at my hand intently. This went on for a long time.
He Answers
Finally, in a low voice, the old man began to tell me about my childhood. He talked about my family, my school, my old town, and university. He want on to tell me about my travels in different parts of the world.
And everything he said was true!
Stop
“Stop!” I shouted. “How do you know all those things?!?
“I know everything: the past and the present,” replied the old man in a calm voice.
“And I know about the future too. Are you ready to hear that now?”
“Of course!….no wait,” I said. “Wait…uh…let me think about that….Alright! Tell me about my future!”
Voices
Just at that moment, the owner came into the dining room.
“Is there anything else that you would like sir?” she asked. “You know I thought I heard you speaking to someone.”
I looked around. The old man was gone. I described him to her.
“Isn’t he your…father?”
“Him?!? No he isn’t,” said the woman. “He’s a bit cuckoo. He thinks he can tell people’s fortunes! Can you believe it? I hope he wasn’t annoying you.”
1. Who was the writer?
2. The writer was on a business trip in Frankfurt. True or false?
3. Was he going to spend the night in an inn?
4. The old man was a diner, a customer at the inn. Is this correct or wrong?
5. What did the old man tell the writer?
6. Did he tell the writer his fortune?
7. What did the inn keeper say?
A. Are there fortune tellers in your country? Describe them.
B. Tell your own fortune.
C. Have you heard of Nostradamus?
