When John decides that he is a lion, despite his fierce roar, his family remains skeptical. But outfitted with a mop mane, a rope tail, and nail claws, he becomes the formidable object of this fantasy. Mother, father, sister, even placid grandmother, hide in mock terror bemoaning the fate of John, who has surely provided the ferocious animal with a delightful dinner. Only John's prodigious capacity for candy and ice cream convinces his family that he is really their John because everyone knows that lions don't eat sweets.