The Story of Ferdinand illustrated by Robert Lawson

Today's vintage children's book, Ferdinand, is a redo from 2010. My scanner was not working properly at the time and threw a pink cast on every page. This post has all new scans and most of the illustrations from the book, plus the story itself, which is very entertaining. I kept the text in it's original format so not to lose the rhythm of the story.

"There was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand."

"All the other little bulls he 

lived with would run and jump

 and butt their heads together."

"But Not Ferdinand."

"He liked to sit just quietly and smell the flowers."

"He had a favorite spot out in the pasture under a cork tree."

"It was his favorite tree and he would sit in its shade all day..."

"Sometimes his mother, who

 was a cow, would worry about

 him. She was afraid he would

 be lonesome all by himself."

"Why don't you run and play

with the other little bulls and

skip and butt your head?" she 

would say."

"But Ferdinand would shake

his head. "I like it better here

where I can sit just quietly and

smell the flowers."

"His mother saw that he was

not lonesome, and because

she was an understanding

mother, even though she was

a cow, she let him just sit 

there and be happy."

"As the years went by Ferdinand

grew and grew until he was

very big and strong."

"All the other bulls who had

grown up with him in the same

pasture would fight each other

all day. They would butt each

other and stick each other with

their horns. What they wanted

most of all was to be picked 

to fight at the bull fights in 

Madrid."

"One day five men came in very

funny hats to pick the biggest,

fastest, roughest bull to fight

in the bull fights in Madrid."

"All the other bulls ran around

snorting and butting, leaping

and jumping so the men would

think that they were very very

strong and fierce and pick them."

"Ferdinand knew that they

wouldn't pick him and he

didn't care. So he went out

to his favorite cork tree to 

sit down."

"He didn't look where he was

sitting and instead of sitting

on the nice cool grass in the

shade he sat on a bumble bee."

"Well, if you were a bumble

bee and a bull sat on you what

would you do? You would

sting him. And that is just what

this bee did to Ferdinand."

"Wow! Did it hurt! Ferdinand

jumped up with a snort. He

ran around puffing and snorting,

butting and pawing the ground

as if he were crazy."

"The five men saw him and they

all shouted with joy. Here was

the largest and fiercest bull of

all. Just the one for the bull

fights in Madrid!"

"So they took him away for the

bull fight day in a cart."

"What a day it was! Flags were

flying, bands were playing. . . "

"and all the lovely ladies had

flowers in their hair."

"They had a parade into the bull ring."

"First came the Banderilleros

with long sharp pins with

ribbons on them to stick in

the bull and make him mad."

"Next came the Picadores who

rode skinny horses and they

had long spears to stick in the

bull and make him madder."

"Then came the Matador, the

proudest of all--he thought he

was very handsome, and bowed

to the ladies. He had a red cape

and a sword and was supposed

to stick the bull last of all."

"Then came the bull, and you

know who that was don't you?"

                                                      

                                                                        --FERDINAND.

"They called him Ferdinand

the Fierce and all the Banderilleros

were afraid of him and the 

Picadores were afraid of him

and the Matador was scared stiff."

"Ferdinand ran to the middle of

the ring and everyone shouted

and clapped because the

thought he was going to fight

fiercely and butt and snort

and stick his horns around."

"But not Ferdinand. When he

got to the middle of the ring

he saw flowers in all the 

lovely ladies' hair and he just

sat down quietly and smelled."

"He wouldn't fight and be fierce

no matter what they did. He

just sat and smelled. And the

Banderilleros were mad and

the Picadores were madder and

the Matador was so mad he

cried because he couldn't show

off with his cape and sword."

"So they had to take Ferdinand home."

"And for all I know he is sitting

there still, under his favorite

cork tree, smelling the flowers

just quietly."

To read about Robert Lawson go to my first post where you can also view my pink scans :> ).

The Story of Ferdinand

By Munro Leaf

Drawings by Robert Lawson

Puffin Books, 1981

First Published by The Viking Press, 1936