The scene feels like a dream or a memory waiting to be resolved. A tender yet uncanny pairing—a lion near a child—raises questions: Is the lion tamer than he seems, or is the girl wilder than we think? Perhaps it echoes storybook fictions, like the child actress who befriended a lion named Neil or a feral child raised by jungle companions. Though not factual, these tales feel true, as childhood always does. The painting invites us to consider that the strangest part of childhood may not be the imagined companions but the half-wild version of ourselves we've forgotten.