Let’s Anthropomorphize ~ Bull Stories

Rudy the bull wasn’t too tall,

But wide at the hips and my how he squalled!

Rubbing his face in the dirt, while pawing the ground,

He ripped and he roared and made terrible sounds!

He pushed and he shoved whoever was in sight.

He broke down the fences with all of his might!

He flipped over the trough and broke through the gate,

Angrily snorting and throwing his weight!

His tantrums were wild!  A sight to behold!

His anger was obvious and never controlled.

Afraid of his fits, his friends ran away.

No one could trust him.  No  one would stay.

Unpredictable,  hateful, crazy and mean,

He was the wildest  bull anyone had ever seen!

He was left all  alone, with his pent up anger.

The cows  certainly didn’t want to put themselves in any danger.

On the edge of the pasture  with eyes big and wide,

A small calf named Albert stood by his grandma’s side.

Grand Moo, as they called her,  old and  very wise

Said,  “Listen up, dear Albert and I’ll give you some advice.

Don’t bottle up your feelings and push them down inside.

When your sad, hurt, or angry find someone in which to confide..

Talk about things you don’t understand and things that make you sad,

Talk about things that make you angry, Talk about the bad days that you have had.

Don’t stay angry like Rudy and drive your friends away.

Don’t let the things that upset you take charge and ruin your day.

Learn to talk about those feelings and some solution find,

To replace the negative feelings with feelings of a different kind.

Communicating our feelings is such an important part of life,

And gently explaining what we feel inside can end a lot of strife.”

Then  Grand Moo smiled at Albert and gently stroked his head.

Albert thought carefully about what his wise Grand Moo had said.

He decided that being bully, simply was not the way,

That he wanted to be remembered at the end of the every day.

Albert decided to learn to talk about the things inside his head

Especially the things that caused him anger, fear and dread

By giving those negative emotions a chance to fade away,

Little Albert left a lot of room for better things to take their place.

And maybe this little story about Rudy, Albert and Grandma Moo

Will help us to remember to not let bad feelings grow inside of me and you.

 

THE END

 

I hope you enjoyed this simple story I made up about a bull named Rudy.  I got the inspiration from this story from a real, Jersey bull that we own here at our farm who loves to blow and snort and make terrible squalling noises!  The truth is, he doesn’t do those things because he didn’t talk about his feelings when he was little.  He actually makes those sounds and appears angry because that’s what bulls tend to do in order to protect their territory and their herd.  It’s their instinct to do those things.  What I did when I made up this story was to anthropomorphize.  Anthropomorphism is when a person takes human characteristics and attributes them to something that isn’t human.  In other words, I pretended that the bull, Rudy, Grand Moo and Albert had human thoughts and emotions.  A lot of authors have used anthropomorphism to write stories.  Just think about all the Disney movies that you have watched where the animals talk and act like people.  That’s a really good example of anthropomorphism.

Disney actually produced a movie about a bull named Ferdinand who was sweet and kind, much the way that I imagine Albert in our story wants to be when he grows up.   As you watch the movie, think about how Ferdinand takes on human qualities and characteristics.

 

The Disney movie about Ferdinand was actually inspired by a book by Munro Leaf that was written in 1936 about a young bull that would rather smell flowers than fight.  The book was written right before the Spanish Civil War and was thought be many to be a book against the war.  For that reason, it was banned in many countries to take a stand against people who are against wars, called pacifists.

 

The book, Ferdinand,  was illustrated by Robert Lawson , who illustrated close to 60 children’s books, 17 of those he authored himself.

“Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children’s fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person’s life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd’s Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate’s ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.” ~ From Wikipedia

For more information on the story of Ferdinand the Bull written by Munroe and illustrated by Lawsone, visit this link.