Of all the statues i have seen in Paris since my arrival, i think this one has to be my favourite. Is it because of its artistic merits, its fame, or the aching wound left in my heart by the death of Mufassa? No, none of those things. Its the inscription on the pedestal: "A la defense national, 1870-1871."Now i know why France lost the franco-prussian war. Instead of, oh, say fighting the Germans, the French were building a statue of a lion. The Maginot Line may not have been any more useful in the end, but at least it wasn't built in the middle of Paris.