We report the detection of the GRB 971214 counterpart in the near-infrared by means of two images in the K ^ { \prime } -band taken at Calar Alto only \sim 3.5 and \sim 5 hours after the gamma-ray event .
We detect the transient at K ^ { \prime } = 18.03 \pm 0.18 and K ^ { \prime } = 18.00 \pm 0.22 respectively .
Our data seem to indicate the existence of a plateau with duration 1.5 \leq T \leq 6.7 hours ( between 3.5 and 10.2 hours after the high-energy event ) .
Moreover the power-law decline should be steeper than the one given by the index \alpha _ { K ^ { \prime } } = 0.45 .
There is also a change in the slope of the broad-band spectrum at some wavelength between the J and K ^ { \prime } bands ( possibly around the H-band ) .