Like this:

In early drafts for the first Babar book, Jean de Brunhoff opened the story with this episode showing the death of Babar’
s father, the King of the Elephants. Babar’s mother, Queen Mumtaz, is shown mourning the loss of her husband. Babar is shown as a young boy, and the story ends with the death of Babar’s father.

Jean de Brunhoff was a French illustrator