African Forest Elephant

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

After Babar's mother is shot and killed by a hunter, he flees the jungle and finds his way to an unspecified big city with no particular characteristics. He is befriended by the Old Lady, who buys him clothes and hires him a tutor. Babar's cousins Celeste and Arthur find him in the big city and help him return to the Elephant realm. Following the death of the King of the Elephants, who had eaten a poisonous mushroom (the illustrations indicate that it is a fly agaric), a council of old elephants approach Babar, saying that as he has 'lived among men and learnt much', he would be suitable to become the new King. Babar is crowned King of the Elephants and marries his cousin, Celeste. In Jean de Brunhoff's second Babar book, *The Travels of Babar*, when the married couple leave by balloon on their honeymoon, stormy winds down the balloon on an island, and yet again will the royal couple escape by whale, be marooned on an even smaller island and be rescued by a passing ocean liner only to be turned over to an animal trainer and put to work in a circus. And when they escape and return home, what awaits them but war with the rhinoceroses. It was sparked when Arthur tied a firecracker to the tail of Lord Rataxes. Babar wins the war by having the elephants paint monster faces on their backsides, which cause the frightened rhinoceroses to run away.

In Their Own Story

In the third book, *Babar the King*, Babar founds the city of Celesteville. After many dromedaries are found, they help with building the city. Each elephant citizen is given a job to do. Once the city is built, everyone celebrates. However, problems arise; the Old Lady is bitten by a snake, and Cornelius' home catches fire. Babar has a dream where he is visited by Misfortune and other demons which are chased away by elephant angels representing Courage, Hope, and other virtues. The morning after the hopeful dream, the Old Lady and Cornelius make full recoveries. Among Babar's other associates in the various incarnations of the series are the monkey Zephir, the old elephant counsellor Cornelius (also later Pompadour who was created for the Babar television series), Babar's cousin Arthur, and Babar's children, Pom, Flora, and Alexander. A younger daughter, Isabelle, is later introduced. The Old Lady comes to live in the Kingdom as an honored guest. Besides his Westernizing policies, Babar engages in battle with the warlike rhinoceroses of a hostile bordering nation, led by Lord Rataxes. Much later, in *Babar and the Adventures of Badou*, Pom grows to become the father of Prince Babar II (known as Badou).

Reader's Guide

In 1931, Jean de Brunhoff introduced Babar in *Histoire de Babar*, and Babar enjoyed immediate success. In 1933, A.A. Milne introduced an English-language version, *The Story of Babar*, in Britain and the United States. Before his death in 1937, Jean de Brunhoff published six more stories. His son Laurent de Brunhoff, also a writer and illustrator, carried on the series from 1946, beginning with *Babar et Le Coquin d'Arthur*. An animated television series, *Babar* was produced in Canada by Nelvana Limited and the Clifford Ross Company, running from 3 January 1989 to 5 June 1991, with 65 episodes. An additional 13 episodes aired in 2000. The character has also appeared in a number of films. The first two of Jean de Brunhoff's Babar books have inspired two major concert works: *L'Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant* by Francis Poulenc in 1940; and *The Travels of Babar* by Raphael Mostel in 1994. In 2010, an animated sequel and spin-off, *Babar and the Adventures of Badou*, was released, introducing new characters, including Badou, Babar's grandson and Pom's son.

Did You Know?

• Babar first appeared in 1931 in the French children's book *Histoire de Babar* by Jean de Brunhoff.
• The book is based on a tale that Brunhoff's wife, Cécile, had invented for their children.
• Babar's mother is killed by a big game hunter, prompting his escape to a big city.
• Babar becomes king after the previous king dies from eating a poisonous mushroom (a fly agaric).
• Babar marries his cousin, Celeste.