The Lord Is My Shepherd

The Lord Is My Shepherd is the hymn tune T. H. White whistles while trying to call Gos to his gloved fist. Its pastoral and devotional associations enter a practical training scene of waiting, hunger, and uncertain instruction. The tune first serves as a signal meant to draw the hawk in; as the lesson falters, its religious language also shadows White’s changing sense of patience, control, and fear.

The hymn as a calling signal

In the first calling lesson, Gos is perched on the railings of a well, about twenty yards from White. White has made a Creance from doubled tarred twine because the line tends to snap, and he has tied it to Gos’s swivel. He whistles the old Scottish melody associated with Psalm 23, hoping the hawk will fly to him. The hymn is thus not merely a private expression of faith: in this scene it is part of a procedure, paired with the raised glove and the food White displays to invite Gos to approach.

White keeps whistling for ten minutes. His eyes ache, his lips are dry, and mosquitoes are beginning to bite, while Gos remains away from the fist. White waves the glove with a jointed rabbit leg attached and waits for the hawk to respond. The scene gives the tune a repeated, almost measured presence: it returns as White renews the call, while the bird’s failure to come makes the expected answer increasingly uncertain. The hymn can be heard as a promise of provision, but the immediate terms of the lesson are material: Gos is expected to fly because he is hungry and the food is on White’s hand.

Pastoral promise and failed instruction

The hymn’s language of shepherding and green pastures sits uneasily beside the method White uses when waiting does not work. He believes he has discovered that a hungry hawk will fly to him and an unhungry one will misbehave, but he does not yet know how to teach Gos to respond. After roughly an hour, he takes hold of the Creance and pulls the bird from its perch repeatedly. Gos returns to the railings after being pulled down; only after the fourth attempt does he begin to move towards White. As Gos follows, White retreats, waving the rabbit leg, and the bird runs before flying the final two yards to the fist. White rewards him with rabbit and judges the day a success of sorts.

The episode’s contrast is consequential. The hymn supplies an image of care and guidance, yet the lesson is not a calm exchange between shepherd and dependent creature. White’s prolonged calling teaches Gos little, and the force applied through the line replaces the clear invitation the tune is meant to accompany. The account later explains that a calling lesson should end if a hawk does not come promptly; waiting on and calling for minutes at a time is not useful. White does not know that rule during this first attempt. The hymn’s repeated appeal therefore cannot make the training relationship reciprocal by itself: the signal depends on knowledge, timing, and trust that White has not yet acquired.

The tune returns as fear rises

Two days later, White tries again from forty yards away, holding two ounces of butcher’s steak and calling Gos in several different tones. After ten minutes, the hawk flies towards him. The hymn returns in the account as Gos approaches, but this time its words accompany White’s growing alarm rather than simply his effort to summon the bird. Gos’s flight brings him within reach, and White is frightened enough to duck and turn aside. The hawk veers into branches and drops into a hedge; White collects him and begins the lesson again.

On the next attempt, White tries to stand his ground as Gos flies towards him. He again flinches when the bird comes close, but Gos reaches his shoulder and feeds on the beef. White then calls him from fifty yards. This time he remains upright, despite his fear, and takes pride in both the hawk’s flight and his own steadiness. The hymn’s scriptural imagery has shifted in function: what began as the tune of a summons now accompanies a test of White’s capacity to endure the approach he has asked for. The call is no longer only about getting Gos to come; it also exposes how difficult White finds it to receive the hawk without recoiling.

A devotional frame without a simple resolution

The hymn does not resolve the tension between care and control in the training scenes. Its shepherd image suggests protection and guidance, while the actual lessons show White improvising, misunderstanding Gos’s response, and learning through failed attempts. The bird is not made obedient by the invocation, and the tune cannot substitute for a sound method. Its presence instead makes the gap between the ideal of a guided relationship and the falconer’s uncertain practice more visible.

Across the two lessons, the tune also binds together distinct kinds of dependence. White offers food to induce Gos to fly, while White himself relies on the familiar religious melody as he waits and then faces the approaching hawk. The repeated call moves from hopeful signal to accompaniment for apprehension and self-command. The expression’s significance lies in this change: the hymn remains constant, but the scene around it changes, revealing that falconry requires more than an invocation or a display of authority. It demands that White learn how to call, how to wait, and how to remain present when Gos answers.