 | |
| Author | Munro Leaf |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Robert Lawson |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's literature |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
Publication date | 1936 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover andpaperback) |
The Story of Ferdinand (1936) is the best-known work by the American authorMunro Leaf. Illustrated byRobert Lawson, thechildren's book tells the story of abull who would rather smell flowers than fight inbullfights. He sits in the middle of the bull ring failing to take heed of any of the provocations of thematador and others to fight.The Story of Ferdinand was published in 1936 byViking Books. Later, after theSpanish Civil War, it was viewed as having a political agenda. DuringWorld War II, the BritishAir Transport Auxiliary started flying into Europe afterD-Day and their pilots, who were non-combatants, used Ferdinand the Bull as their call sign. The book has been adapted into two films, the 1938 animated shortFerdinand the Bull and the 2017 animated feature filmFerdinand.
Young Ferdinand does not enjoy butting heads with other youngbulls, preferring instead to sit under acork tree smelling the flowers. His mother is concerned that he might be lonely and tries to persuade him to play with the other calves, but when she sees that Ferdinand is content as he is, she leaves him alone.
Ferdinand grows to be the biggest bull in the herd and he often spends time alone. All the other bulls dream of being chosen to compete in thebullfights inMadrid, but Ferdinand still prefers smelling the flowers instead. One day, five men come to the pasture to choose a bull for thebullfights. Ferdinand is again on his own, sniffing flowers, when he accidentally sits on a bumblebee. Upon getting stung as a result, he runs wildly across the field, snorting and stamping. Mistaking Ferdinand for a mad and aggressive bull, the men dub him "Ferdinand the Fierce" and take him away to Madrid.
All of Madrid, including many women, turn out to see the handsomematador fight "Ferdinand the Fierce". When Ferdinand enters the bull ring, he is faced with the matador, banderilleros and picadors who panic when they see him. However, he is delighted by the flowers in the women's hair and sits down in the middle of the ring to smell them, upsetting and disappointing everyone and making the matador and other fighters throw tantrums. Ferdinand is then taken back to his pasture, where at the end he is still sitting under thecork tree happily smelling flowers.
The book's first run by Viking Press in 1936 sold 14,000 copies at a dollar each. The following year saw sales increase to 68,000 by 1938, the book was selling at 3,000 per week.[1][a] That year, it outsoldGone with the Wind to become the number one best seller in the United States.[3]
As of 2019 the book has never been out of print.[4] The book has been translated into more than sixty languages. In 1962, a Latin translation,Ferdinandus Taurus, was published byDavid McKay Publications in New York and byHamish Hamilton in London.
A first-edition copy sold at auction for $16,500 in the year of 2014.[5]
In 1938,Life magazine calledFerdinand "the greatest juvenile classic sinceWinnie the Pooh" and suggested that "three out of four grownups buy the book largely for their own pleasure and amusement".[1] The article also noted that Ferdinand was accused of being a political symbol, noting that "too-subtle readers see in Ferdinand everything from a fascist to a pacifist to a burlesque sit-down striker".[1] Others labelled the work "as promoting fascism, anarchism, and communism".[4] TheCleveland Plain Dealer "accused the book of corrupting the youth of America" whileThe New York Times downplayed the possible political allegories, insisting the book was about being true to oneself.[6]
The book was released less than two months after the outbreak of theSpanish Civil War, and was seen by many supporters ofFrancisco Franco as apacifist book.[7] It was banned in many countries, including in Spain (where it remained banned until after Franco's death). InNazi Germany,Adolf Hitler ordered the book burned (as "degenerate democratic propaganda"),[6][8][9][10][11] while it was the only American children's book available for sale inCold War era Poland.[6] It received particular praise fromThomas Mann,H. G. Wells,Gandhi, andFranklin andEleanor Roosevelt.[3] Following the 1945 defeat of Germany during theSecond World War, 30,000 copies were quickly published and given out for free to the country's children.[6]
In the United States, the book was so popular with the public in the 1930s that it was used in various commercial products, from toys toPost Toasties breakfast cereal.[12] Disney made it into ananimated short in 1938, which became a classic (winning theAcademy Award for Best Animated Short Film) and was the basis forFerdinand the Bull, based on 'The Story of Ferdinand' by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson (Whitman Publishing Co., 1938),Walt Disney's Ferdinand and the Robbers (Random House, 1983) by Vincent H. Jefferds andWalt Disney's Ferdinand and the Bullies (Bantam Books, 1986,ISBN 978-0553055900).
In 1951,Holiday magazine published anErnest Hemingway children's story called "The Faithful Bull". This story has been interpreted as a "rebuttal" to the earlier Leaf book.[13]
According to one scholar, the book crosses gender lines in that it offers a character to whom both boys and girls can relate.[14] More recently, in 2011The New York Times positioned the story in the context of discrimination and social exclusion. It characterized the story as "an icon for the outsider and the bullied".[15]
Leaf is said to have written the story on a whim in an afternoon in 1935, largely to provide his friend, illustratorRobert Lawson (then relatively unknown) a forum in which to showcase his talents.[16]
The landscape in which Lawson placed the fictional Ferdinand is more or less real. Lawson faithfully reproduced the view of the city ofRonda inAndalusia for his illustration of Ferdinand being brought to Madrid on a cart: we see thePuente Nuevo ("New Bridge") spanning the El Tajo canyon. The Disney film added some rather accurate views of Ronda and thePuente Romano ("Roman bridge") and thePuente Viejo ("Old bridge") at the beginning of the story, where Lawson's pictures were more free. Ronda is home to the oldestbullfighting ring in Spain that is still used; this might have been a reason for Lawson's use of its surroundings as a background for the story. Although most of the illustrations are realistic, Lawson added touches of whimsy by adding, for instance, bunches ofcorks, as though plucked from a bottle, growing on thecork tree like fruit.[3]
According to a documentary from Sweden (where the Disney film is shown every year on Christmas Eve)[17] the story has a basis in truth. A peaceful bull named Civilón was raised on a farm outside Salamanca in the early 1930s, and the Spanish press campaigned for it to not have to meet its fate in the bull-fighting arena. It was pardoned mid-fight, but when the Spanish Civil War broke out days later, it never lived to see its home.[18][19]
"Ferdinand" was the code name chosen for the AustralianCoastwatchers inWorld War II byEric Feldt, the organization's commander:
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.[20]
In 1938, the book became abestseller andan animated short was created, winning theAcademy Award for Best Short Subject. Eighty years later,a full length movie was released by20th Century Fox.
In 1951,Capitol Records releasedWalt Disney's Ferdinand the Bull (CAS 3095), adapted from the book by Alan Livingston with music by Billy May and narrated byDon Wilson, as a 10" 78 RPM album.[27] This recording was later released by Capitol in LP format in 1961 as part ofThe Sorcerer's Apprentice from Walt Disney's Fantasia (J-3253); the album was re-released in 1972 by Wonderland Records (L-8110).[28]
The story was released as an audio recording in 1967 byScholastic Records (CC 0606) as a 7" 33-1/3 RPM LP. The story was narrated by former professional boxing championJuan Nazario with music composed, arranged and conducted byArthur Rubenstein.[29]
Gwen Verdon narrated the story for a 1971Caedmon Records recording,The Story of Ferdinand and Other Stories (TC 1341).[30]
In 1973,Columbia Records released a recording,The Story of Ferdinand/Andy and the Lion (CR 21519), narrated by Owen Jordan.[31]
The story was adapted byWalt Disney as a short animated film entitledFerdinand the Bull in 1938, in a style similar to hisSilly Symphonies series.Ferdinand the Bull won the 1938Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Cartoons).
A 3D feature-length computer-animated film remake, titledFerdinand, was released in 2017. It was directed byCarlos Saldanha and produced by20th Century Fox Animation andBlue Sky Studios.[32][33]Ferdinand was nominated forBest Animated Film (but losing toPixar'sCoco) in the90th Academy Awards.
When he was a little boy, Fall Out Boy bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz enjoyed reading 'Curious George', 'Babar' andRichard Scarry, but his favorite children's book was 'The Story of Ferdinand' by Munro Leaf. The story...was so inspirational to Wentz that he titled the band's breakthrough recordFrom Under the Cork Tree.
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