5I Do Not Own Ferdinand
So This is a One-Shot for the movie Ferdinand. I love the movie. That said, the beginning is a bit sad, when Ferdinand realizes that his father died in the Arena.
That said, Ferdinand's Father while he does fight, and seems to want to like the other bulls, also seems much nicer than many of the other bulls. Not to say that the bulls in the movie aren't nice, but with the exceptions of Ferdinand and his father, they are very confrontational. Granted, Ferdinand's father could just seem that way since we only see him briefly, after he's been selected to fight in the ring. Still, I wanted to write a story that gave us some insight into the elder bull that genuinely seems to care for his son.
That said, and knowing there are different opinions on Bullfighting, I want to say this. I am not trying to display a personal opinion of Bullfighting. I am however, using multiple websites about Bullfighting, trying to portray the fight from the Bulls perspective. And I believe, whether your like and enjoy Bullfighting, or wish to see the practice abolished, the Bull would, regardless of how excited or pleased it was initially to be in the Ring (at least in the Ferdinand world), favor abolishment.
That said, I tried to, using those articles I mentioned, describe an accurate portrayal of a Bullfight. However, I have never actually seen one. And while I could probably go to YouTube and find videos to watch, I didn't actually think about doing that until after I had written this, and I don't feel like changing things as I feel the story works as it is. So I didn't bother looking so I wouldn't feel compelled to change things.
Now, On with the Story.
00000000000000000000000000000
Raf smiled sadly as he looked down at his sleeping calf.
The large bull knew Ferdinand was a gentle soul. He didn't like fighting with the other calves, preferring to look at and, on the rare occasions when they sprouted in the enclosure, smell flowers.
He also knew that, as gentle as his son was, one day he would be forced to fight in the ring. As he was now, Raf truly feared his son would die if that happened. There was a good chance Ferdinand would eventually grow out of his gentle nature, but Raf had not seen any sign of that happening yet.
That was the main reason Raf trained so hard.
Raf may not be an intellectual, but he wasn't a dumb brute by any means either. Bulls only had two fates in this world. They fought in the ring, where they died more often than they performed well enough to be pardoned. Or they were butchered for meat.
The calves didn't know this of course. Even Negrita, Valiente's father, shielded his son from this truth. Negrita may be a harder bull than Raf, but he did care for his son, in his own way. All the calves knew was that if they fought well in the Arena, they could be pardoned, to live out the rest of their lives in peace and luxury.
They didn't know that no bull from Casa del Toro had been pardoned in years.
Raf needed to win, needed to give a good enough showing that he would be pardoned. That way he could return to Casa del Toro, and show Ferdinand the moves and methods to not only survive, but be pardoned when it was finally his time to enter the ring.
The large bull refused to even consider the other option, that he or his son would die in the ring.
He needed to win, so that he could save Ferdinand.
Ferdinand needed to win because he was Raf's son.
Raf didn't know what he would do if, after he won, Ferdinand went down in the ring. He wasn't a violent bull...not truly, but he loved his son. If anything happened to Ferdinand, Raf knew he would loose everything that mattered to him in the world. And if that happened, he truly had no idea whether he would slip into a quiet depression or an unstoppable rage.
So Raf trained, so that one day he could save his son.
00000000000000000000000000
This was it.
Raf had made it to the ring. All he had to do was beat the Matador and he would be free to return to Ferdinand. Then he would teach his son everything he knew so that one day Ferdinand could do the same.
The door opened and Raf charged out.
He immediately spotted the Matador, and charged the human, roaring a deafening battle-cry as he did so.
He missed, breezing by the Matador's cape.
This happened a few more times, then the horses came out with their Picadors.
Raf tried to ignore them, but they goaded him, poked his back with their lances.
He succeeded, and continued to charge at the Matador. He didn't even notice when the horses left the ring, or the sound of the trumpet as he continued to try and win his life.
He also failed to notice the Banderilleros approach him, but he felt the banderillas enter his back. Roaring in pain, he tried to gore the humans that had placed the decorated wooden spears into his back, but they quickly dodged out of his path.
Soon, he was left alone with the Matador, who had exchanged his larger cape for a smaller one.
Raf charged, his head low...the Matador was not fast enough to get completely out of the way and Raf's horn tore into the humans leg.
The Matador screamed in pain.
The Banderilleros were quick to appear, distracting Raf as the Matador was carried out and another Matador entered.
When the humans finally left him alone, Raf was surprised to see this new, uninjured Matador.
It was then that Raf realized a horrible truth. It wasn't enough that he had defeated a Matador, a new one had taken his place. This was an injustice. He had defeated the Matador, he should have won his life.
But he hadn't.
And Raf knew, in that moment, that he couldn't win. This 'fight' was rigged in the Matadors favor. He would die in the ring, and most likely, so would Ferdinand.
At the thought of his son, his precious, gentle-hearted Ferdinand, facing this injustice, dying without a chance to win, rage filled Raf's heart.
He couldn't win, Raf's only hope was to terrify future bullfighters of his bloodline. It was a small chance, but it was the only way he could protect Ferdinand. If they were afraid of him, they would fear his son, and would hopefully never choose him to fight in the ring.
Raf knew it wasn't likely to happen, Matadors loved fierce bulls. But he was desperate to save his son from his own fate. And in the few moments of respite he had, in which he had made this terrible realization, he could not come up with another plan.
With a mighty roar, Raf lowered his head and charged this new Matador.
00000000000000000000000000
Senor Morena smiled sadly as he mounted the horns of Raf on his wall.
He had hoped Raf would be pardoned, he was a large bull and his progeny would likely be just as big, if not bigger. And his performance in the ring had been exceptional. While he had gored all three Matadors, the final Matador had managed to kill the bull.
It was a shame, but he had initially not been too worried. He'd had a calf that had been studded by Raf already, and he had high hopes for it, even if it didn't seem as aggressive as the other calves. But Moreno had seen such things before, and had no doubts the calf would grow up to be as fierce as his father had been.
And mentioning the bull's father had been Raf would be a major selling point. The son of a bull that was quickly becoming a legend in Bullfighting, despite having made his name only that afternoon.
But when he had returned to the ranch earlier tonight, is was to find the calf had somehow gotten out of it's pen. And his ranch hands had been unable to catch it.
It had apparently jumped onto a train, and while they had called the railroad and gotten the train stopped, the calf had apparently jumped off at some point. He doubted it had survived, and even if it had, it was long gone.
Such a shame.
Still, Raf's performance had displayed the quality of his bulls, even if he had lost the bloodline.
Casa del Toro's reputation could only increase for having produced such a legend.
00000000000000000000000000000000
So Raf is the name of Ferdinand's father, according to Wikipedia. I don't actually remember it being mentioned in the film. And I named Valiente's father Negrita because it means Bold, according to the Bing Translator anyway.
I hope you enjoyed.
Please Review, and Check Out the Challenges in My Forums (Link on Profile), and the Stories I have up for Adoption Under the Title: Please Adopt Me!
