The Original Ferdinand

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 57, 26 July 1940, Page 8

The Original Ferdinand

HERE is the first of another series of questions that have been put to Autolycus. I must confess that this one had me sorely puzzled. It was so cryptic and laconic. Just listen. "What was the matter with Ferdinand?" I could not make head nor tail of it and was

about to throw it in the wastepaper basket, when over the radio I heard someone warbling the song about "Ferdinand, the Bull." That supplied the clue. This inquirer apparently was much puzzled by Ferdinand’s alleged behaviour. Well, you know, Ferdinand had a prototype about fifty years ago. Perhaps Ferdinand was a descendant of

the particular bull I’m thinking of. This bull, Lechuzo was reared to be a fighter and a very good fighter he was. On his first appearance in the arena, he cleared it of matadors and picadors so quickly

and efficiently that the spectators demanded his freedom. The people who owned him, knowing they had a good thing refused to part with him. Time and again he was triumphant in the arena. However, one day at the height of his fame, this bull, Lechuzo, suddenly got fed up. He was driven into the ring. He sat down and gazed benevolently at the crowd and all the picadors, etc. Then he got up, trotted over to the wall, jumped over and made his way out into the public square. Here he proceeded to graze quietly on the grass and shrubs. The crowd watched him in amazement. A wealthy gentleman bought him and took him to his estate, where Lechuzo spent the rest of his life as a kind of family pet. He wandered at his sweet will about the estate, and behaved much in the same was as " Ferdinand" of the song. ("Do You Know Why?" by "Autolycus," 4YA.)