Think “Out of the box”
It’s good to see you here. It isn’t often that we come across wordless stories.
But we figured you’d get a lot more out of imagining, asking questions and deciphering the meaning on your own. We hope that’s been fruitful (no pun intended).
Something about the storyline and the characters seems familiar, doesn’t it? Perhaps Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia crossed your mind when you laid eyes on the lion. And that tree—attractive, alluring and deadly—reminds you of the tree of knowledge of good and evil described in the biblical book of Genesis (yes, the same one that Adam and Eve ate from).
If not, no matter. You might have found the themes familiar: Friendship, rebellion, betrayal, sacrifice, death. Perhaps more.
At face value, it’s a tale of fantasy depicting the friendship between a young archer and his protector and companion, a lion. They have a great time together, playing, hunting, sleeping under the stars. Then, a tree appears out of nowhere. When the boy becomes hell-bent on getting its delicious-looking fruit, he wrecks the friendship of the two protagonists. We see the lion knocking the fruit out of the boy’s grasp, taking a bite out of it, and dying shortly after. (We took the saying “curiosity kills the cat” to a whole new level.) As the rotting core of the fruit is revealed, we realize that the lion had known that the fruit was poisonous all along, and had wanted to stop the archer.
At some point, you may wonder if this illustration is trying to offer an allegory of some kind. That is, it’s conveying some idea about human life through these characters and events. If so, you’re spot on.
It doesn’t matter how old you are, where you come from, or what your belief system is. You should be able to identify with at least one of the two perspectives below.
My name is Marie and I’m the third of four girls of my super chill parents. I have always been doodling for as long as I can remember—I guess it helps me express myself as I was never one to talk much. I graduated from LASALLE in Animation and am currently trying to apply for Masters in Illustration. My other interests and hobbies include embroidery, cutting paper and sleeping.
I think that the story is about a wonderful friendship. After all that they’ve gone through, there was a time that they had misunderstanding. and to the point that the lion wants to save the boy from being harmed, the lion just let the boy taught that it is self-centered but in the end the boy realized that the lion just want to save him.