The Light in the Forest

“Kidnapped at four by the Delaware Indians, John Butler returns to his family 11 years later, only to escape and be rejected by the Indians after an ambush fails.” *** “John Butler is kidnapped at the age of four and raised by the Delaware Indians. Eleven years later, under a truce agreement between the Indians and the colonials, he is forcibly returned to his family. Irrevocably divided in his heart, he escapes and goes back to the Indians but is sent away after the failure of an Indian ambush.” Shapiro. Fic for Youth. *** “True Son is angry. As part of an agreement to keep peace, whites are insisting that captives who have been living with the Indians be returned to their white settlements. True Son, fifteen years old, has lived with the Delaware tribe since being captured as a baby. He resents his real parents and the alien ways of the whites: their strange smell, restrictive clothing, tasteless food. But he grows to care about his little brother, Gordie. However, some of his relatives have had unhappy experiences with Indians, and nurse a deep hatred. When Little Crane is found murdered by True Son’s uncle, True Son decides to return to his Indian family. While taking part in a retaliatory ambush, he realizes that his loyalties are split. Where does True Son belong?”