sjar Chapter 323 Standing on the Golden Eagle Wearing Tannered Leather Gloves
Chapter 323 Standing on the Golden Eagle Wearing Tannered Leather Gloves
Zhao Pao wore gloves made of tanned cowhide and protective sleeves made of tanned cowhide on his arms. A beautiful eagle stood on his arm, supported by a rope.
The eagle looked majestic and not very old. It also looked different from the previous one, as if it had been replaced.
Li Ju'an asked him, "Zhao Pao, are you no longer keeping that eagle?"
Old Chen looked puzzled and said, "How many eagles does Old Zhao have to raise? Is this a condor?"
After Zhao Pao released his injured goshawk, he tamed a new one. However, the goshawk wasn't strong enough and could only catch small mountain animals, which didn't satisfy him. So he bought a sub-adult golden eagle and has been taming it for half a year now, with some success.
Zhao Pao looked at the golden eagle perched on his arm, his eyes full of satisfaction and an undisguised sense of accomplishment. He laughed and said, "Old Chen has a good eye. It cost me a lot of money when I bought this golden eagle. I couldn't even find a golden eagle's nest. I had to ask several experienced people before I finally bought this little eagle."
Zhao Pao returned to Eagle Village this year. He brought back a young golden eagle; though its wings were not yet fully grown, it already exuded extraordinary grace. There was already a special room in the house dedicated to training these aerial predators. In the past, a well-trained falcon was worth enough to support a family, even surpassing the substantial dowry of a Kyrgyz girl, becoming a measure of wealth and honor.
Falconry and hunting are not only skills for survival but also the ultimate test of patience and energy, deeply ingrained in the blood of the people of Yingtun. To become a qualified falconer, a calm and steady character and a robust physique are both indispensable.
Transforming a wild and untamed eagle into an obedient, loyal, and fearless hunting falcon requires the falconer to devote their heart and soul to its care, feeding and tending to it with utmost care.
When Zhao Pao started talking about the process of taming that golden eagle, it was as if the floodgates of memory had been opened, and he talked on and on.
"That golden eagle was captured with great effort by the village's experienced hunters halfway up the mountain. It was incredibly wild. When we first brought it back, it was so stubborn that it wouldn't eat for four or five days straight. The process of training the eagle was extremely arduous. During the day, I had to ride a horse and take it soaring through the vast sky and earth; at night, I couldn't relax for a moment and had to continue training it, slowly wearing down its wildness."
And so, it took him three whole months to finally see some initial success, when it began to show signs of being tamed. After that, it was a cycle of releasing it, taming it again, over and over again, another month of hard work.
The purpose of falconers is to gradually change the wildness and will of eagles over a long period of time, allowing these proud creatures to gradually establish an indescribable intimate relationship with humans.
The lives of falconers are deeply marked by the ancient art of falconry. For an average of 30 years, each household has raised seven agile falcons, which are not only hunting partners but also a source of comfort for the soul.
Every day, the falconers dedicate two hours to gently stroking their falcons' feathers and playing with them. Every movement, every glance, is filled with deep affection and connection for the eagles. This expression of emotion is simple and pure. No matter how much farm work they do during the day, no matter how hard or tiring it is, when they return home, they pick up their falcons and have a silent conversation with them for a while—a wonderful way to relieve stress.
When the time comes, the falcons released back into the wild, having become accustomed to life with humans, will occasionally come to visit their eagle owners.
Li Ju'an looked at the golden eagle on Zhao Pao's shoulder with curiosity.
He saw the eagles and falcons that Zhao Pao brought out, and he had never seen such a majestic golden eagle before.
The golden eagle perched on Zhao Pao's rock-solid arm, its eagle-like eyes sharp and agile. Zhao Pao's face, etched with the wrinkles of time, now wore a knowing smile. In this long companionship, an invisible web of understanding had quietly woven between man and eagle, a bond that transcended words.
Li Ju'an recalled what the people of Yingtun had said when they chatted with them in the past: "Every day, as long as we look at the falcon, stroke its wings, and stay for a while, we feel at ease."
Zhao Pao fixed his gaze on the two crooked little eagles. He took the strong tea with a blank expression and said indifferently, "It's good that we come here often. Old Chen, is the cell still here?"
The eagle was exhausted, but as its eyes slowly narrowed, the eagle trainer had to start his work.
Many elderly people in the Xingan Mountains can play work songs. In Northeast China, the Xingan Mountains forest work songs have strong regional cultural characteristics. Their rough and unrestrained shouts, with varying pitches, must be improvised and spontaneous.
If you visit the grasslands of the Kazakh falconers, you'll encounter a completely different scene. There, the falconers, while dancing with their eagles, often play a unique instrument called a "haozi" (婍子). This haozi is a captivating plucked string instrument. Its soundbox is sometimes triangular, and it's called the "Abai Haozi." When the falconer gently plucks the strings, a resounding melody flows out like a spring, clear and stirring, enough to keep even the sleeping eagles awake all night.
Another type of work song, with an oval-shaped soundbox, is known as the "Jambul Work Song." Its tone is more gentle and delicate than the "Abai Work Song," and its timbre can instantly invigorate an eagle.
Zhao Pao is now blowing the bugle for the same purpose: to keep the eagle awake.
He blew loudly and spoke loudly, giving the eagle a rousing little tune. Stimulated by the sound, the eagle had to perk up again. Its body wanted to sleep, but its brain told it not to. At this point, the eagle would feel very annoyed. Humans and eagles do not share the same emotions; it only felt the noise.
The forest work song was really powerful; Li Ju'an's head was buzzing as he listened, and the song seemed to explode in his ears.
He and Lin Yuan Lao Chen were already exhausted, and when they were suddenly shouted at like that, their hearts started racing and they became very irritable.
Li Ju'an said with a wry smile, "Before the eagle has even recovered, we've already landed ourselves in the hospital."
Old Chen was also so sleepy that his eyelids were drooping. He pleaded, "Last time I was complaining to Old Zhao, saying that I wanted him to come to our duty room more often to chat with us, otherwise these duty days are really boring and there's nothing to look forward to. Well, this time he's done something really bad to me. This is going to be really troublesome for me."
Zhao Pao usually doesn't care about anything, but when it comes to eagle training, his excitement surges. Li Ju'an calls him "Master" repeatedly, saying, "Zhao is really good at bragging. With just a few words, the eagle won't budge."