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# I owe my first impression of consanguineous marriage among aristocrats to the tale of Babar the elephant, which I read in early childhood
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/pervomu-vpechatleniiu-o-blizkorodstvennykh-brakakh-sredi-aristokratov-ia-obiazan-skazke-pro-slona-babara-kotoruiu-chital-v-rannem-detstve/
- Published: 2020-02-05T15:05:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:43:08.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Aristocracy, Cinema, Books, Observations, Mores

I owe my first impression of consanguineous marriage among aristocrats to the tale of Babar the elephant, which I read in early childhood. If you remember the opening of the plot, once he has become a famous elephant, Babar goes off into the forest with his cousins Arthur and Celeste, where he is elected king, marries Celeste and brings charming heirs into the world. Even now, in a fit of nostalgia, I sometimes put on the [cartoon series](https://yadoma.tv/video/102540-multik-slonenok-babar-1989-seriya-1-smotret-onlajn.html?ref=theparnassian.com) about the adventures of little Babar, made from the tale of the 1930s. The story of the venerable elephant and his exploits in the distant past was invented by the pianist Cécile de Brunhoff: it was a bedtime story for her sons Laurent and Mathieu. Their father, the artist Jean de Brunhoff, sketched all the action-packed episodes and characters, and their uncle, the publisher Lucien Vogel, issued the drawings as a book, which became immensely popular: the preface to the English edition was written by A. A. Milne himself.

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