BABAR'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE
by Laurent de Brunhoff
The surprise is to be a statue of Babar carved in a side of the mountain, and the story revolves — monotonously — around keeping it a surprise. After one after another false alarm, the King himself comes looking for his lost pipe; but somehow he doesn't look up, and the great day is saved. Only once, when the birds concealing the statue depart to reveal it ceremoniously, does this have some of the old Babar spirit. Otherwise it commends itself chiefly by its existence.