by Liz Welch
There is a famous Kazakh saying, “From the old horn, which has already grown, it’s better to have a new horn, which is growing.”
My people say I am the new horn. But I think I am one of many.
With White Feathers after we won at the Golden Eagle Festival in 2014.
© Frank Riedinger
Inside our winter home.
© Chris Wedge
From left to right: my sister, Saigulikh, age 3; my younger brother, Dinka, age 1; and me, age 5.
Photo courtesy of Aisholpan Nurgaiv
With White Feathers.
© Raphael Avigdor
At the Golden Eagle Festival with my father the year after my win.
© Stacey Reiss
At home, working on this book with (clockwise from top) Liz Welch; my father, Agilay; me; my mother, Alma; and Nurbolat, our translator.
© Chris Wedge
With my niece, Tansholpan (Samrakhan’s daughter). The eagle in the picture is a statue!
Photo courtesy of Aisholpan Nurgaiv
With my father in Central Park during a visit to New York City.
© Jessica Antola
With my mother and father at the Dubai Film Festival.
Photo courtesy of Aisholpan Nurgaiv
At the Sundance Film Festival with my father, seeing my poster for the first time.
© Stacey Reiss
I had to get used to having my photo taken. These pictures were taken during our trip to Sundance.
© Stacey Reiss
The photo of me that Asher Svidensky took in 2013 that made director Otto Bell want to meet me.
© Asher Svidensky
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From Aisholpan:
While this may be my story, it would not have been possible without the love and support of many people. Thank you to Liz Welch for her friendship and her commitment to helping me tell my story so beautifully; to Farrin Jacobs and the whole team at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for making this book a reality; to Yerlan Amangeldi, for his dedication to helping me and my family communicate with my publisher; to Rebecca Gradinger, Veronica Goldstein, and Elizabeth Resnick at Fletcher & Company for seeing the potential for a book and guiding me through the process; and to Otto Bell and Stacey Reiss for first sharing my story with the world. I’d also like to thank my father, Nurgaiv “Agilay” Rys, for supporting my dream to become an eagle huntress; my mother, Alma Koksegen, for believing in me; and White Feathers for being my partner every step of the way.
From Liz:
First off, I would like to thank Aisholpan and her family for trusting me to help her tell her story! For inviting me to sleep in your home, ride your ponies, hold your eagles, and drink salt tea around your table during the magical time I spent in Bayan-Ölgii.
Nurbolat Len, thank you for being such wonderful guide and translator while I was there, and thank you, Yerlan Almankeldi, for keeping me connected when I returned home. I am deeply grateful to you for the hours you spent translating this book word for word—in real time, and at odd hours—with Aisholpan and her family. This book would not exist without your help.
Jeanne Markel, thank you for bringing my attention to The Eagle Huntress in the first place. A special “rakmet” to Chris Wedge. I benefited from your decision to come for your own research. On that note, thank you, Lucy Manos, for your expert itinerary planning!
Rebecca Gradinger, thank you for asking me to help bring this story to the page—and thanks to both Otto Bell and Stacey Reiss for believing that I could. And huge thanks to Veronica Goldstein and Elizabeth Resnick.
Thanks always to my agent Brettne Bloom for letting me focus on the storytelling, and to Farrin Jacobs, one of the most astute, thoughtful, and funniest editors I know.
To my husband, Gideon D’Arcangelo, who did not blink when I said, “So, I am going to Mongolia to live with semi-nomadic eagle hunters for a little while.” To my brother, Dan Welch, and my dearest friend, Leslie King, for always being there to help take care of Bella, my daughter.
Last but not least, this book is for Bella, my heart and my reason for writing stories like these.
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FURTHER READING
If you’re interested in reading more about eagle hunting, Mongolia, or Kazakh culture, here are a few suggestions:
Moving with the Seasons: Portrait of a Mongolian Family by Liza F. Carter (Saltwind Press, 2014)
Horse Song: The Nadaam of Mongolia by Ted and Betsy Lewin (Lee & Low Books, 2008)
Vanishing Cultures: Mongolia by Jan Reynolds (Lee & Low Books, 2007)
KAZAKH GLOSSARY
balakhbau: tethers tied to an eagle’s ankles.
baldakh: the leaning stick that an eagle hunter uses to balance the arm that the eagle rests on when the hunter is on horseback. It has a pad on the bottom of the stick that rests on the horse’s neck, and then a rope that attaches to the saddle.
berkutchi: an eagle hunter.
besbarmak: a five-fingered meal, or one that is eaten with your hands, that is prepared with goat or lamb or cow, and accompanied by dumplings.
biyalai: the glove made of deer or goat skin worn by eagle hunters to protect his or her skin from being cut by razor-sharp talons.
dombra: stringed instrument played by Kazakh nomads.
djem khlata: the sack a hunter carries on hunts that holds food for his or her eagle.
gers: portable, tentlike homes that nomads live in that can be easily erected and disassembled. Made of a collapsible wooden frame, felt lining, cowhide, and plastic sheets.
Huka: the call of an eagle hunter to the eagle.
Jaksi: All right!
Rakmet: Thank you.
saptiayakhk: a wooden bowl used to feed an eagle.
tomaga: the leather hood placed over an eagle’s head to keep her calm.
tughir: a wooden perch that the eagle sits on.