The Bear and the Bull

the long version

In this haunting tale in Old California, thirteen-year-old Ramon Montiel strives to save his beloved bull, Toro, from a fight with a marauding grizzly bear, a battle that would end in certain death for Toro.Ramon has raised Toro as his pet at Rancho Ortega, but when he meets Betsy Crowley, trouble begins. Her mother forbids them to see each other and makes her father call in the rancho’s mortgage. To save the rancho, the Padrone orders Toro to fight the captured grizzly. Ramon pleads with the Padrone that Toro is too tame but his pleas go unheeded. Toro must fight the bear.