Once upon a time, in a sunny meadow in Spain, there lived a little bull named Ferdinand. Now, most young bulls liked to run and jump and butt heads with each other, but not Ferdinand. He was different. Ferdinand loved to sit quietly under his favorite cork tree, smelling flowers all day long. And oh, what lovely flowers they were! Big, small, yellow, and blue—Ferdinand thought they smelled even better than breakfast.

Ferdinand’s mama, who was a very kind cow, worried about him sometimes. “Why don’t you play with the other bulls?” she’d ask. Ferdinand would just smile and say, “I like flowers better.” His mama saw how happy he was and decided that was just fine.

The other bulls didn’t understand Ferdinand at all. They snorted and stomped and practiced looking fierce, dreaming of the day they’d be picked to fight in the bullring. But Ferdinand didn’t care about fighting or being fierce. He had everything he wanted—his cork tree, the sunshine, and the sweet smell of flowers.

Years passed, and Ferdinand grew big and strong. He was the biggest bull in the meadow, but he was still as gentle as ever. The other bulls kept showing off, trying to look tough when the men came to choose a bull for the bullfight. They kicked up dirt, charged at each other, and made a big noisy fuss. Ferdinand? He just kept sniffing flowers, happy as could be.

Then one day, something unexpected happened. Ferdinand was sitting under his cork tree when a bee buzzed by—and stung him right on the nose! Ferdinand leapt up with a mighty snort, pawed at the ground, and charged around the meadow like a whirlwind. The men who came to choose a bull saw him and shouted, “That’s the one! Look at how fierce he is!” Before Ferdinand could explain, they loaded him onto a cart and took him away to the big city.

The bullring was enormous, filled with cheering people and waving flags. Ferdinand was supposed to fight a matador—a man dressed in fancy clothes with a bright red cape. The crowd clapped and stomped, ready for an exciting show. But when Ferdinand stepped into the ring, something funny happened. He saw the matador, the cape, and all the excitement…but he also saw a bunch of flowers decorating the edge of the arena. Beautiful, colorful flowers!

Instead of charging at the matador, Ferdinand trotted over to the flowers and started sniffing them. The crowd gasped. The matador tried to wave his cape and look important, but Ferdinand didn’t care one bit. He was far too busy enjoying the flowers.

The audience didn’t get the fierce bullfight they expected, but they got something much better: a bull who loved flowers more than anything else. The matador finally gave up, and Ferdinand was sent back to his meadow, where he could sit under his cork tree and sniff flowers to his heart’s content.

And so, Ferdinand lived happily ever after. Because sometimes, being yourself is the best thing of all.