It's a Hat! Or a Snake... That Ate an Elephant?

   The figures could be both a hat or a snake that ate an elephant, but it does take a little perception. The upper figure could be a really cute hat with an elephant-eating snake design, or it could be an x-ray of a snake, whose eyes definitely got bigger than its stomach. The lower figure is definitely a normal hat. It has the shape, and its color is very convincing. However, this very well could be that same snake shown above, save the x-ray. And for the fun of it, the lower figure may not even contain an elephant-- the snake could have eaten a hat! 
   There is a pattern here, as this example relates to the novel Life of Pi. The figure above could be Pi's imagination in front of him, like the cute hat. Or he could have explored inside his mind to find his wild imaginations in his midst. Hence, the x-ray. But maybe it was a bit more austere, and he really was all alone. Still, Pi could have had the mundane reality, but that tiger inside was only masked, as the snake's skin concealed the elephant within.
   In terms of a better story, the winning answer must be that the figure above is a snake that ate the elephant. The believable story gets old, and people begin to crave something more incredulous, like an elephant-eating snake, or in Pi's case, the tiger who journeyed with him across the Pacific Ocean.
   The "lifeless factuality" award goes to the regular hat. It is so down to earth; no time for extreme creativity-- just the facts. There is no snake. There is no elephant. Just a simple hat. To reiterate, there was no tiger. There was no carnivorous island. Just a journey alone on a boat.