 In an article in the children's literature journal "The Lion and the Unicorn", Meena G. Khorana calls the novel one of the few children's novels from Western or Indian authors to explore the Himalayas in a meaningful way (rather than simply using them as a setting), and notes the way Mukerji recalls their "grandeur and spiritual power".Gay-Neck, or "Chitra-Griva", is born to a young owner in India.Gay-Neck's parents teach him how to fly, but he soon loses his father in a storm and his mother to a hawk.