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Babar

It's not clear to me that James Marshall studied Jean de Brunhoff. But here is some speculation.

"Babar's Travels"--the second Babar book--has Babar and Celeste on an adventure. They go up in a hot-air balloon, but life intervenes, and they end up stranded. A friendly whale offers to rescue them, but the whale gets distracted by fish, and the elephants are once again abandoned. Finally, a ship arrives, but the captain believes that the elephants are not royalty, and the grand couple is sold into circus life.

Meanwhile, back on the mainland, Arthur the tiny elephant decides to play a prank on the rhino Rataxes, by strapping a small firecracker to Rataxes's tail. This doesn't actually amuse Rataxes--and the threat of retaliation becomes a problem.

Do you see a James Marshall spirit here? The use of large, large mammals to tell stories about chance and behavior. The hot-air balloon (which also appears in Marshall's story "The Flying Machine"). The sudden shifts in fortune, which make me think of George and Martha in "The Trip," contending with soggy sandwiches and rain. The idea of the prank, and the idea of "consequences." (Think of "The Trick," or "The Big Scare.")

Again, this is just speculation. Your thoughts?
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