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Gay-Neck

Chapter 1: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
By Dhan Gopal Mukerji
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About This Book

A domesticated carrier pigeon grows from hatchling on a city rooftop, learns homing and survival skills, and undertakes flights across countryside and high mountains. Training and service lead to dangerous encounters with birds of prey and to wartime missions carrying messages, after which the bird becomes traumatized by fear. Recovery involves gentle care, spiritual balm, and a return to trust that heals hatred and terror. The narrative blends adventure episodes, practical instruction in pigeon handling and signaling, and reflections on loyalty, courage, and the bond between humans and animals, concluding with a contemplative lesson about overcoming fear.

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gay-Neck

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Title: Gay-Neck

The story of a pigeon

Author: Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Illustrator: Boris Artzybasheff

Release date: November 10, 2023 [eBook #72086]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc, 1927

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GAY-NECK ***

Gay-Neck

Copyright, 1927
By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

All rights reserved

First Printing July, 1927
Fifth Printing Dec., 1927
Tenth Printing May, 1928
Fifteenth Printing Oct., 1928
Seventeenth Printing Jan., 1929
Eighteenth Printing June, 1929
Nineteenth Printing Nov., 1929
Twentieth Printing Nov., 1929

Printed in the United States of America

This book was awarded the John Newbery Medal by the Children's Librarians' Section of the American Library Association, for the most distinguished contribution to American Children's literature during the year 1927.

By the same author

CASTE AND OUTCAST
MY BROTHER'S FACE
THE SECRET LISTENERS OF THE EAST
THE FACE OF SILENCE

Stories for Children

KARI THE ELEPHANT
JUNGLE BEASTS AND MEN
HARI THE JUNGLE LAD
GAY-NECK (The Story of a Pigeon)

Published by
E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.

TO

Dear Suresh:

Since Gay-Neck needs a protector I thought of you for several reasons. First of all being a poet, an observer of nature, and a traveller, you would be able to protect the book from being condemned. In fact, there is no one who can do it as well as yourself.

You know the country where Gay-Neck grew. You are versed in the lore of birds. For a pigeon, life is a repetition of two incidents: namely, quest of food and avoidance of attacks by its enemies. If the hero of the present book repeats his escapes from attacks by hawks, it is because that is the sort of mishap that becomes chronic in the case of pigeons.

Now as to my sources, you well know that they are too numerous to be mentioned here. Many hunters, poets like yourself, and books in many languages have helped me to write Gay-Neck. And if you will permit it, I hope to discharge at least a part of my debt by dedicating this book to one of my sources—yourself.

I remain most faithfully yours,
Dhan Gopal.

CONTENTS

PART I

I. Birth of Gay-Neck
II Education of Gay-Neck
III. Training in Direction
IV. Gay-Neck in the Himalayas
V. On Gay-Neck's Track
VI. Gay-Neck's Truancy
VII. Gay-Neck's Story
VIII. Gay-Neck's Odyssey (Continued)

PART II

I. Gay-Neck's Training for War
II. War Training (Continued)
III. Mating of Gay-Neck
IV. War Calls Gay-Neck
V. Second Adventure
VI. Ghond Goes Reconnoitring
VII. Gay-Neck Tells How He Carried the Message
VIII. Healing of Hate and Fear
IX. The Wisdom of the Lama

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Gay-Neck
With Enormously Long Reach He almost Touched the Top of the Tree
No Beast of Prey Can Kill His Victim without Frightening Him First
That Sound was Drowned in the Cry of the Eagles above Who Screeched Like Mad, Slaying Each Other