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.Honoria gave a shrill whistle and waved her arm.The spaniel raced through the stubble into the midst of the feeding ducks,flushing them perfectly; they flew up in all directions, quacking wildly withconfusion and leaving behind a cloud of feathers and down that floated away onthe breeze. But Bern's eyes were on the falcon, who fell from the sky like a thunderbolt,in a perfect stoop; her wings tucked in close to her body, her talons pulledin and fisted, her eyes on one of the ducks among the twenty or so flappingheavily to gain speed and distance.Some of them already knew she was coming,and there was panic in their voices as they rowed the air, trying to find somemeans of escape.But for one fat hen, it was already too late.Valeria closed with the duck with a audible crack, like a thrown stonestriking a plank.And striking her was just what the falcon had done."There!" Honoria cried with satisfaction, as the duck fell, an inert,motionless weight."The falcon balled up her talons in a fist, and struck theback of the duck's head! That's the best attack with a bird this size.Look,see how she used the attack to bounce up and get more height, in case the duckwasn't stunned or killed and she had to try again?"Valeria didn't need a second attack this time; at the top of her bounce, shewent into a second stoop and followed the duck down to the ground.Honoria andBern ran toward the place where both had fallen.As soon as they got her in view, however, Honoria stopped running and motionedto Bern to stop as well."All right, this is where inexperienced oroverexcited falconers lose their birds," she cautioned.Valeria perched atopthe duck, her wings spread over her prey, glaring at them."See how she'smantling? She's protecting her prey from us.It's our job to convince her thatwe have something for her that's better than what she just killed.We have toreward her both for making the kill and for giving it up to us.Everything wedo has to bring a reward for her, or she'll leave us without looking back."Honoria reached into her game bag and orought out a pigeon breast, fresh andstill warm, with feathers and a little blood on the feathers.She slipped itinto her gloved fist and held it up, chirruping to her bird; the feathersruffled in the breeze, catching the falcon's gaze.Today, all the gods ofhunting must have been smiling on her; Valeria loved pigeon, and she hadn'tyet tasted or even seen the hot blood of the duck.Without hesitation, sheshoved off the duck and made straight for the glove, settling down on it likethe lady she was, and contentedly started to tear at the pigeon meat beneathher talons.She spread her wings again and mantled over her meal, protectingit jealously from any potential rivals.As she ate, Honoria tied her jesses tothe leash and secured the jesses in her gloved fingers.Only when she was donedid Bern run to fetch the duck."Lady Honoria!" the squire said, as he walked back with the duck tucked underhis arm, his blue eyes round with amazement."The falcon roke the duck'sneck!"Honoria nodded, flushed with gratification at ter bird's success."That's thebest and cleanest sort of kill," she replied with a touch of pardonable pride."The next best is when they bind to le duck, either on the way down or on theround and pierce the heart with their talons, hat's why the falcon is called'the bird of the oot/ because they kill with their talons and not heir beaks.What would we have done if Val-eria hadn't come to me?" Valeria plucked the bit of pigeon daintily, and bitsof fluff and feathers flew away in the breeze."Uh make in to her slowly," Bern said, after a moment of hesitation."If shelooked nervous, or like she was about to fly off, we'd go in on hands andknees.""Or crawl on our bellies if we had to," Hon-oria reminded him."Then what?""Bring the glove with the pigeon in from behind and coax her up on it, bringit up under her little by little," Bern continued, more sure of himself now."You'd want to hide the duck while you were offering the pigeon.Only when shewas eating the pigeon would you take her up and secure the jesses.""Because?""Because we never want to make her think we're taking her dinner away fromher.We always want her to remember that we give her dinner." Bern was quitesure of himself now, and Honoria was gratified that her lessons were being recited with real feeling, not just by rote."Because?" she prompted again, wanting him to be sure of the reasons behindeverything she taught him."No falcon or hawk is faithful to anything but its best interest," Bernrecited confidently."She can fly away at any time, and will, if she thinks wearen't serving her.The falconer serves the bird, the bird never serves thefalconer."Honoria laughed."Good but do you knowwhat that means?" She motioned to Bern to walk beside her as they made theirway back to the castle; she wouldn't hood Valeria until the bird had eaten herfill."I do now/' the boy replied."I used to think you could make a friend out of afalcon, like you can a dog, but all they ever really do is tolerate you.Except once in a long while you might get a bird like Freya.""Once in a lifetime," Honoria corrected."And then, only if you are very, verylucky.Stick to what is the rule for the whole mews, and continue." Hope andeven pray for a gos like Freya, and dream of one at night.Maybe you'll getone, little fellow."Well, the best you can get is tolerance a kind of partner, but a partner thatis always waiting to see if you're going to do something she doesn't like.Ifyou do, she's going to leave you." Bern sighed, but with a note ofexasperation that tickled Honoria."Just like Sir Gregof's bird didyesterday.""And what did Sir Gregof do that was wrong?" Honoria knew verywell what the night had done, but she wanted to know if Bern had seen it.Bern grinned impudently.He could; Gregof wasn't his knight."What didn't hedo wrong? le didn't wait for the bird to get enough height, e flushed thepartridge himself so the poor fal-on had a tail-chase, and when the falconactu-lly caught a partridge, he ran up to it! And since it was a partridge,and small enough to carry, that's what the falcon did; she carried it off, andthe last he saw of her was disappearing over the hill with the partridge inher talons."Oh, excellent; no doubt, he has the eye and the brain to match."Very good;you caught all of that.Now, what do you think my father's falconer did lastnight, while Gregof went off in a temper, cursing the bird and the trainertogether?" This part Bern hadn't seen, but she wanted to see if he'd intuitit."I don't know what Heinrich did, but I know what I'd do," Bern venturedslowly, as they neared the gates of the palace [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Honoria gave a shrill whistle and waved her arm.The spaniel raced through the stubble into the midst of the feeding ducks,flushing them perfectly; they flew up in all directions, quacking wildly withconfusion and leaving behind a cloud of feathers and down that floated away onthe breeze. But Bern's eyes were on the falcon, who fell from the sky like a thunderbolt,in a perfect stoop; her wings tucked in close to her body, her talons pulledin and fisted, her eyes on one of the ducks among the twenty or so flappingheavily to gain speed and distance.Some of them already knew she was coming,and there was panic in their voices as they rowed the air, trying to find somemeans of escape.But for one fat hen, it was already too late.Valeria closed with the duck with a audible crack, like a thrown stonestriking a plank.And striking her was just what the falcon had done."There!" Honoria cried with satisfaction, as the duck fell, an inert,motionless weight."The falcon balled up her talons in a fist, and struck theback of the duck's head! That's the best attack with a bird this size.Look,see how she used the attack to bounce up and get more height, in case the duckwasn't stunned or killed and she had to try again?"Valeria didn't need a second attack this time; at the top of her bounce, shewent into a second stoop and followed the duck down to the ground.Honoria andBern ran toward the place where both had fallen.As soon as they got her in view, however, Honoria stopped running and motionedto Bern to stop as well."All right, this is where inexperienced oroverexcited falconers lose their birds," she cautioned.Valeria perched atopthe duck, her wings spread over her prey, glaring at them."See how she'smantling? She's protecting her prey from us.It's our job to convince her thatwe have something for her that's better than what she just killed.We have toreward her both for making the kill and for giving it up to us.Everything wedo has to bring a reward for her, or she'll leave us without looking back."Honoria reached into her game bag and orought out a pigeon breast, fresh andstill warm, with feathers and a little blood on the feathers.She slipped itinto her gloved fist and held it up, chirruping to her bird; the feathersruffled in the breeze, catching the falcon's gaze.Today, all the gods ofhunting must have been smiling on her; Valeria loved pigeon, and she hadn'tyet tasted or even seen the hot blood of the duck.Without hesitation, sheshoved off the duck and made straight for the glove, settling down on it likethe lady she was, and contentedly started to tear at the pigeon meat beneathher talons.She spread her wings again and mantled over her meal, protectingit jealously from any potential rivals.As she ate, Honoria tied her jesses tothe leash and secured the jesses in her gloved fingers.Only when she was donedid Bern run to fetch the duck."Lady Honoria!" the squire said, as he walked back with the duck tucked underhis arm, his blue eyes round with amazement."The falcon roke the duck'sneck!"Honoria nodded, flushed with gratification at ter bird's success."That's thebest and cleanest sort of kill," she replied with a touch of pardonable pride."The next best is when they bind to le duck, either on the way down or on theround and pierce the heart with their talons, hat's why the falcon is called'the bird of the oot/ because they kill with their talons and not heir beaks.What would we have done if Val-eria hadn't come to me?" Valeria plucked the bit of pigeon daintily, and bitsof fluff and feathers flew away in the breeze."Uh make in to her slowly," Bern said, after a moment of hesitation."If shelooked nervous, or like she was about to fly off, we'd go in on hands andknees.""Or crawl on our bellies if we had to," Hon-oria reminded him."Then what?""Bring the glove with the pigeon in from behind and coax her up on it, bringit up under her little by little," Bern continued, more sure of himself now."You'd want to hide the duck while you were offering the pigeon.Only when shewas eating the pigeon would you take her up and secure the jesses.""Because?""Because we never want to make her think we're taking her dinner away fromher.We always want her to remember that we give her dinner." Bern was quitesure of himself now, and Honoria was gratified that her lessons were being recited with real feeling, not just by rote."Because?" she prompted again, wanting him to be sure of the reasons behindeverything she taught him."No falcon or hawk is faithful to anything but its best interest," Bernrecited confidently."She can fly away at any time, and will, if she thinks wearen't serving her.The falconer serves the bird, the bird never serves thefalconer."Honoria laughed."Good but do you knowwhat that means?" She motioned to Bern to walk beside her as they made theirway back to the castle; she wouldn't hood Valeria until the bird had eaten herfill."I do now/' the boy replied."I used to think you could make a friend out of afalcon, like you can a dog, but all they ever really do is tolerate you.Except once in a long while you might get a bird like Freya.""Once in a lifetime," Honoria corrected."And then, only if you are very, verylucky.Stick to what is the rule for the whole mews, and continue." Hope andeven pray for a gos like Freya, and dream of one at night.Maybe you'll getone, little fellow."Well, the best you can get is tolerance a kind of partner, but a partner thatis always waiting to see if you're going to do something she doesn't like.Ifyou do, she's going to leave you." Bern sighed, but with a note ofexasperation that tickled Honoria."Just like Sir Gregof's bird didyesterday.""And what did Sir Gregof do that was wrong?" Honoria knew verywell what the night had done, but she wanted to know if Bern had seen it.Bern grinned impudently.He could; Gregof wasn't his knight."What didn't hedo wrong? le didn't wait for the bird to get enough height, e flushed thepartridge himself so the poor fal-on had a tail-chase, and when the falconactu-lly caught a partridge, he ran up to it! And since it was a partridge,and small enough to carry, that's what the falcon did; she carried it off, andthe last he saw of her was disappearing over the hill with the partridge inher talons."Oh, excellent; no doubt, he has the eye and the brain to match."Very good;you caught all of that.Now, what do you think my father's falconer did lastnight, while Gregof went off in a temper, cursing the bird and the trainertogether?" This part Bern hadn't seen, but she wanted to see if he'd intuitit."I don't know what Heinrich did, but I know what I'd do," Bern venturedslowly, as they neared the gates of the palace [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]