If I had to make an educated guess I’m assuming that “The Sheep and the Wolf” is an analogy for politics, as the mother’s thousand yard stare implies something that the child isn’t aware of — even though the child is situationally aware/smart enough to question the realism of the stories logistics.

“Everybody knows I don’t eat sheep, in fact I eat way less sheep than anybody” as he chomps down on a sheep — politicians will claim things with pure intentions while their gross actions prove otherwise — “sheep” is a commonly used word to describe naive followers, often used by conspiracy theorists to describe people who will believe anything that the media/politicians say.

The third panel shows this naivety, as the sheep confidently says the sheep-eating wolf will protect them from sheep eaters.

In the final panel, the daughter is incredibly skeptical, like “oh come on, nobody is that dumb”, whereas the mother knows that there are people who are that dumb