Summary

In the prologue, the first person narrator, Odie O'Banion introduces himself as a storyteller, saying he will tell the tale of his adventures as a 12-year-old in Fremont County, Minnesota in 1932.

In Chapter 1, Odie spent the night in the quiet room of the Lincoln Indian Training School. He and his brother, Albert, came to the school four years prior, after their mother died and their father was murdered. The superintendent Thelma Brickman and her husband took them in because the orphanages were supposedly full.

Eventually, the boys' only ally, Herman Volz, released Odie and lead him to Mrs. Brickman, who the boys called the Black Witch. Though she threatened Odie with a greater punishment, Odie convinced her to give him back his harmonica, a gift from his father.

In Chapter 2, while most of the children went back to their...