She was kidnapped and raised in the woods by monkeys. If that sounds like a revamp of the beloved book-turned-movie The Jungle Book, it's not. British housewife Marina Chapman says that it was her life.

At four years old, Chapman was kidnapped from her home in Colombia. She says that her earliest memory is of her shelling peas when a hand covered her mouth with a white cloth. In what appears to be a kidnapping gone wrong, Chapman was abandoned in a remote jungle and left for dead.

But instead of dying, Chapman says that she was taken in by Capuchin monkeys, who fed her and housed her. Before long, the young child had grown used to their lifestyle, eating and drinking what they drank, and speaking their language.

Five years after enveloping herself in her new home, Chapman says that she was discovered by hunters. But instead of helping her readjust to society, she says that they sold her to a brothel. After a year, Chapman escaped. She says that she lived on the streets and made money as a pickpocket, eventually leading her own gang of thieves. Then she discovered shelter by working as a maid for a family in Colombia. Subsequently, on a trip to the United Kingdom, Chapman met and married her husband John.

Chapman is now a housewife, living a comparatively quiet life, with children, who say that their mother recounted to them the tales of her life in the jungle as bedtime stories. But apparently, odd bits of her former life appear now and then. She is still able to climb trees in seconds, communicate with animals, and catch wild birds and rabbits with her bare hands.

Chapman is now publishing a book about her adventures in the United Kingdom and in the United States, though the story is already available in seven countries.

If Ms. Chapman's story is true, she would indeed be considered a feral child. Her story would be all the more astonishing for her ability to readapt to contemporary society. While there have been no empirical studies on feral children, most go on to have difficulty readjusting to contemporary society. They may have difficulty learning to use a toilet, walk upright, and may seem mentally disabled as they have difficulty learning language.