Ferdinand's Mother

Ferdinand's Mother
Background information
Short films	Ferdinand the Bull
Voice	Don Wilson
Inspiration	Ferdinand's mother from Munro Leaf's "Story of Ferdinand"
Character information
Home	Spain
Likes	Ferdinand making new friends
Status	Unknown
Family information
Parents	Ferdinand (son)

Ferdinand's Mother is a character from the 1938 Disney animated short Ferdinand the Bull.

Background

Personality

True to her name, Ferdinand's mother is a cow who lives with her son Ferdinand in Spain where a bunch of bulls would play with each other to make new friends. When it comes to her son, Ferdinand's mother offered her son to play with the other bulls. Even when Ferdinand decided not to play with the other bulls, his mother became understanding, allowing him to feel comfortable. However, not much of her personality is known as she does not speak much.

Role in the short

Ferdinand's mother is first seen approaching her son Ferdinand who is sitting by his favorite tree where the narrator describes her that she would worry about him, which she thought that she would be lonesome all by himself. She then encourages Ferdinand to play with the other bulls so that he would make new friends. However, Ferdinand did not want to play with the other bulls, asking her that he prefers to sit quietly in his favorite resting spot and smell the flowers. Ferdinand's mother, being understanding, allows her son to sit at his favorite spot and feel comfortable of smelling the flowers by himself. She does not appear again afterwards, even after her son Ferdinand grew up.

Trivia

• It is unknown of what exactly happened to Ferdinand's mother after her son grew up as an adult bull, as she only appears in the scene where Ferdinand was a calf.
• In the original book by Munro Leaf, Ferdinand's mother has a cowbell with the word "Mother" engraved on it (one of the few instances of English text appearing in the background besides narration), but in the Disney adaptation of the short, the written name was omitted.
• A completely unrelated character named "Raf" (who was Ferdinand's late father) also appears as minor character in the Blue Sky Studios film adaptation of Ferdinand, making him a completely different character from Ferdinand's mother. While the film is currently owned by The Walt Disney Company, following its acquisition 21st Century Fox, it was released before the purchase was made official and thus, is a Disney film by extension rather than direct association. Coincidentally, both Ferdinand's mother (from the original story) and Raf (who is Ferdinand's father) only appear at the beginning of the story and are never seen again when Ferdinand grows up as an adult bull.

Gallery

Ferdinand's mother asking her son to make friends with the other bulls