Ferdinand: The Bull Who Went His Own Way

Today we want to celebrate Ferdinand the bull. Not because the new feature-length adaptation opens today (OK, so a little bit). It's because we love any creature who stops to smell the flowers.

Before we get into all things Ferdinand, who is Ferdinand? Warning: spoilers ahead (are they spoilers for a bestselling book that was published before most of us were born?)

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf is about a young bull who didn't want to butt heads with other young bulls. He preferred spending his days laying under a tree, enjoying the flowers. It made him content and happy.

Ferdinand grows up to be the biggest, strongest flower-loving bull there ever was. One day some men visited the field looking for fighting bulls. Ferdinand is alone, smelling the flowers, but accidentally sits on a bee—ouch. He runs across the field in pain, stamping wildly. The men assume he's a fighting bull and take him to Madrid to fight.

Everyone comes to see "Ferdinand the Fierce" fight the matador. Including the women with flowers in their hats. To end the spoiler-filled summary, Ferdinand enjoys the flowers, disappointing all who came to see a fight. Ferdinand is sent back to his field, where he continues to smell the flowers.

Nine Fun Facts About The Story of Ferdinand

• This is the second time The Story of Ferdinand has been adapted for the big screen. The first time was a Disney Short in 1938. Incidentally, it won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).
• Three years after it was first published it outsold Gone With the Wind and became the number one bestseller in the United States for 1938.
• The author, Munro Leaf, is said to have written the book to help an illustrator friend. Robert Lawson was struggling to make it as an author, so Munro wrote The Story of Ferdinand to highlight Robert's work.
• In 2014, a first-edition copy sold at auction for $16,500.
• The Australian Coastwatchers in World War II used the codename Ferdinand.. Their Commander said it was because "Ferdinand...did not fight but sat under a tree and just smelled the flowers. It was meant as a reminder to coastwatchers that it was not their duty to fight and so draw attention to themselves, but to sit circumspectly and unobtrusively, gathering information. Of course, like their titular prototype, they could fight if they were stung."
• After the defeat of Germany in 1945, 30,000 copies were specially printed and given to the country's children to encourage peace.
• Ferdinand, while being sweet and content, has courted controversy. The bull was accused of being a political symbol, promoting both fascisms and pacifism. The Cleveland Plain Dealer even "accused the book of corrupting the youth of America." All Ferdinand wanted to do was enjoy flowers.
• The Story of Ferdinand was published just before the Spanish War broke out. Francisco Franco's supporters saw it as a pacifist book, prompting it to be banned in many countries.
• In Nazi Germany, it was the only American children's book for sale in Stalinist-era Poland. Adolf Hitler ordered all copies be burned because he thought it "degenerates democratic propaganda.

So much history and controversy in one little book.

Watch the movie trailer now.

Read more by Bianca Smith