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Sam rode a train north to the Catskills. He also hitched rides into the Catskill Mountains. Sam also hitched a ride with a truck driver. The truck driver told him "I'll be back in the morning, if you want a ride home." Sam left his home because it was too crowded there.
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Sam was very cold, hungry, and scared. He caught some fish but couldn't start a fire. He also made a bed.
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The sun was so warm compared to the night that Sam had had. He climbed up a hill and sees a house. Sam ran and knocked on the door of the house. A man answered. Sam asked him if he would cook his fish for him. The man did. His name was Bill. Sam fell asleep in Bill's rocking chair. When he woke up, Bill taught him how to make a fire.
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Sam had three rides that took him to Delhi in the morning. By six that night, he still hadn't found anyone who had heard of the Gribley Farm. He slept on the schoolhouse porch and ate chocolate bars for supper.
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Sam goes to the library and finds an old book about the Gribley Farm. Miss Turner was the librarian that helped Sam find the old books and maps.
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He has been working since. He has worked really hard.
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Sam can stand in it, lie down in it, and there was room left over. On warm evenings, he would lie on his stomach and look out the door.
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The book says "One morning I was at the edge of the meadow. I had cut down a small ash tree and was chopping it into lengths of about 18 inches each. This was the beginning of my bed that I was planning to work on after supper every night.
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When Sam hears the voice he is very startled. The book says, "Oh! Gosh! I said, Don't scare me like that. Say one word at a time until I get used to a human's voice. I must have looked frightened because she chuckled, smoothed down the front of her dress and whispered, Are you lost?" Sam also walks her home after they are done picking strawberries. We later learn that her name is Mrs.Thomas Fielder and she is 97. She ocassionally sees imaginary things.
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Sam gets some books on hawks and falcons. He also gets a haircut by Miss Turner. That night he didn't go back to his tree. He ate May apples. He also caught a trout. Sam also made a lean-to near some cliffs.
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Sam had to climp up the cliff to get up to the duck hawks. Sam picked up the biggest of the nestling. The females are bigger than the males and are the falcons. When Sam was climbing back down the cliff, Frightful had dug her talons into his skin to brace herself. After Sam got down from the cliff he fell asleep beside Frightful.
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Sam was at the edge of the meadow, when he sensed something wasn't right. Sam "was perfectly free and capable of settling down anywhere." He chose to go down to the gorge. On the way there, Sam had caught a rabbit in one of his figure-four traps.
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Sam makes the salt at night. He knows that some of the forest would taste a lot better with some seasoning.
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The Baron flew out of the small hole and jumped onto Sam. The weasel stands his ground and speaks without any words. Sam thinks he is a brave animal. It is also the starting of a harrassing friendship.
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It's morning and he writes about how the can is dry and is thick with a black substance.
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He finished his bed and decides to make a figure-four trap.
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Frightful hops to Sam's fist. She can't fly yet but they're working on it. Frightful's wings have a one inch wingspan. Sam also digs a pit to catch the deer in.
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The book says, "Sometime in July I finished my pants. They fit well, and were the best-looking pants I had ever seen. I was terribly proud of them.
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Frightful saw him first. The raccoon came headfirst into Sam and Frightful's private bath. When Sam would be digging for mussels at the stream "Jessie could find mussels where three men could not."
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The book says, " the summer is wonderful. There was food in abundance and I gathered it most of the morning, and stored it away in the afternoon. I could now see that my niches were not going to be big enough for the amount of food I would need for the winter, so I began burning out another tree."
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Sam heard a police siren from down the road. When he saw a man sleeping he thought he was an outlaw. Bando was actually a college English teacher who got lost in the Catskills and was not an outlaw.
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They create a clay container. Sam is almost done with his raft that he's working on.
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It's a very hot day and Sam can't believe that Bando is firing clay jars. Sam lets Bando meet the Baron Weasel.
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Bando taught Sam to make willow whistles. They play the beautiful instruments until the moon comes up.
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Bando leaves and Sam is very lonely. He forgets about Frightful until she gives her call of love.
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The book says, "September blazed a trail into the mountains. First she burned the grasses. The grasses seeded and were harvested by the mice and the winds. Then she sent the squirrels and chipmunks running boldly through the forest, collecting and hiding nuts. Then she frosted the aspen leaves and left them sunshine yellow, Then she gathered the birds together in flocks, and the mountaintop was full of songs and twitterings and flashing wings. The birds were ready to move to the south."
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Out of the deer that Sam got he made big square pockets for foood gathering.
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He's changing his mantle for winter. It's a very itchy process. He scratches a lot.
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Sam rafted out into the creek to fish. He laid on his back because the fish weren't biting. Sam's line jerked and he sat up to pull, but he was too late. He had drifted into the bank where Bando had dug clay for the jam pots. Sam decided to build a fireplace of clay.
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Sam dragged the clay up to his tree. He stuffed the legs of his pants full of clay. The baron lept from Sam's pants to the cover of fern.
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Sam has been watching to see if the walnuts and hickory nuts are ripe. The squrrels were harvesting nuts, so Sam has to gather them. When Sam would get nuts he tethered Frightful and she would protect the nuts.
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Sam has a Halloween party. He made piles of cracked nuts, smoked rabbit and crayfish. The food was an invitation for the animals to come to the party.
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Sam hears the very first gun shot and it frightens him and Frightful.
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Sam was dressed in his deerskin suit when he went to town. He met a boy his age and called him Mr.Jacket. Sam told Mr.Jacket to come meet him at the Gribley Farm.
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"Cut off a steak and eat. Soak puffballs and cook with wild onions and carrots," is what Sam wrote down. He probably had a good dinner.
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It's the start of the huge snowstorm.
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It's the very first snowstorm for Sam. He was pretty scared.
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Last time that Bando came, he told Sam that he would come back for Christmas. Sam ran into him just as Bando was walking up the valley. Sam was so glad to see him that he gave Bando a hug.
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Sam was so excited when he found his dad lying in a snowdrift. His dad was smiling and was filled with joy. Dad and Frightful didn't get along very well.
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The book says "Bando had to leave two or three days after Christmas. He had some papers to grade, and he started off reluctantly one morning, looking ver unhappy about the way of life he had chosen.
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Sam's dad promised Sam's mom that he would be back on New Years. Sam was very lonely after his dad left.
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He wrote in his journal, "Today I took Frightful out to catch a rabbit. Frightful was frightened by a horned owl.
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Sam's nose bled. When Frightful caught a rabbit Sam saw its liver and he craved liver. Sam wasn't getting enough vitamin C, and liver is rich in vitamin C.
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Around the end of January, Sam wasn't getting the vitamins he needed. He later figured out he was lacking Vitamin C.
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When Sam sees the deer, he wants to create a new race.
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Sam thinks the owls have eggs. There are a lot of owls flying around the mountain.
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Sam found two eggs and they were warm in the cold snow.
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Matt is a reporter for the New York paper. He talks to Sam about the wild boy.
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Aaron was hiking along the top of the gorge and was humming tunes. Sam taught him the "cold water song." Aaron wrote songs and was from New York. He came to the Catskills for the Passover festivities.
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Sam met Matt on Route 27. Sam taught Matt a lot of things over the time that Matt was there.
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Sam went down the mountain to meet his dad and saw his whole family. Sam's parents brought his brothers and sisters to live out there and Sam taught his family everything he knew about living in the forest.
