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Babar the Elephant is a fictional character who 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, Cecile, had invented for their children. It tells of a young elephant Babar whose mother is killed by a hunter. Babar escapes, and in the process leaves the jungle, visits a big city, and returns to bring the benefits of civilization to his fellow elephants. Just as he returns to his community of elephants, their king dies from eating a bad mushroom. Because of his travels and civilization, Babar is appointed king of the elephant kingdom. He marries his cousin, and they subsequently have children and teach them valuable lessons. ==Story synopsis== After Babar's mother is shot by a hunter, he flees the jungle and finds his way to an unspecified big city with no particular characteristics.〔Stating, as it is sometimes done, that the city is Paris is wrong. No recognisable building of Paris or, for that matter, any other larger town is shown in any of the drawings. Since Babar flees by foot, the city would presumably be located in Africa, anyway, although its population (as it is drawn) is exclusively white.〕 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, a council of elephants approach Babar, saying that as he has "lived among men and learned much", he would be suitable to become the new King. Babar is crowned King of the Elephants and marries his second 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."Babar wins the war by having the elephants paint monster faces on their backsides, which cause the frightened rhinoceroses to run away. After the victory celebrations, the book ends with Babar, Celeste and The Old Lady sitting together and discussing how Babar can rule wisely and make all the elephants happy. In the third book, ''Babar the King'', he founds the city of Celesteville. 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'' TV series), Babar's cousin Arthur, and Babar's children, Pom, Flora, and Alexander. Later, a second daughter, Isabelle, was introduced. The Old Lady comes to live in the Kingdom as an honoured guest. Despite the presence of these counsellors, Babar's rule seems to be totally independent of any elected body, and completely autocratic; however, his leadership style seems to be one that works for the overall benefit of his elephant subjects—a form of benevolent dictator. Besides his Westernizing policies, Babar engages in warfare with the warlike rhinoceroses of a hostile bordering nation, who are led by Lord Rataxes. Much later, in ''Babar and the Adventures of Badou'', Babar has a grandson named the Prince Babar II (known as Badou). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Babar the Elephant」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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