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Chipila and Zongwe were friends. They lived in adjacent huts and owned adjacent pieces of land. They helped each other with the tilling, hoeing, sowing and reaping. They were such good friends, that people called them the Twin Gods. 

One day, the Twin Gods were tilling Zongwe's land. They sang and chatted merrily as they worked. Suddenly Zongwe felt dizzy. He ignored it for a while, but the heat was oppressive and he faint­ ed. Chipila, his friend, helped him into his hut and made him comfortable. He then called the village elders in, to look after Zongwe. When they assured Chipila that it was nothing serious, Chipila went back to Zongwe's land to resume tilling, so that they would not lose precious time. 

As he tilled, he found that a particular spot on the ground sounded peculiarly hollow. He tilled a little more and discovered a rotting piece of wood. He heaved it upwards to remove it from the ground. 

As he did so, he was amazed to find underneath, a narrow ditch with lined walls. It was roomy and held four gourds. 

Chipila wondered who could have left them there. His first thought was that Zongwe's elders must have buried gourds of sugar-cane liquor to ferment there, and then had forgotten them. In that case, he thought, he should not disturb them until they were ready to be drunk. And yet his curiosity spurred him on. He wanted to know what was inside. He carefully removed the skin cap that covered the mouth of the first gourd. His eyes grew round with awe. The gourd was full of cowrie shells. 

This was indeed a great treasure that the ancestors of Zongwe had buried there, Zongwe must be the descendant of a very great family. Chipila's eyes grew rounder and rounder as he opened the second and the third gourds and found them also filled with cowries. His heart swelled with joy. His first impulse was to run shout­ ing to Zongwe and drag him out to show how lucky he was to have such a great treasure on his land. Next moment, Chipila's thoughts changed. "Why should I tell Zongwe?" he reasoned. "I found it, so it is mine. The finder is the keeper." 

Chipila got busy. He opened the fourth gourd. But his heart sank with disappointment to find it only half full. 

"If only this too was full," he mused, "I would be the richest man here." 

He was not at all satisfied with the fourth gourd. But he hurriedly took the four gourds and hid them deep in a cave. Later he filled the hole in the ground with plenty of tilled soil. It helped him immensely that most of the villagers were with the sick Zongwe in his hut. Chipila could do his wicked deed undisturbed. 

At dusk he made a great show of concern for Zongwe. He sat with him and reassured him over again that the tilling on his land was done and the sowing could begin straight away. But not a word escaped his lips about the gourds of cowries. 

Chipila's mind was constantly nagged by the unfilled gourd. He thought of ways and means to fill it. He worried about it. He had completely forgotten that there were three other gourds full of cowries. Strangely enough, he was utterly and miserably preoccupied with the fourth gourd alone. As days went by, his whole life seemed to centre around that one half-filled gourd. The gourd swallowed all the cowries that he put in and remained at the same level. He started selling his animals, clothes, old cooking pots and such like to obtain more cowries. He then sold his precious shield and spear. When he found that this too did not fill the gourd, he sold his hut. He was pleased to find that the level was rising slowly. But it was still not full. So Chipila sold all his ancestral property including his piece of land. 

All the elders advised him not to be so foolish. But the greedy youth would not listen to food advice. He became rude and annoyed if people stood in his way. He began to gamble and cheat, to get more cowries. He worked on other people's land to earn more cowries. If he was not satisfied with the wages, he grew angry and fought. Chipila, who was once so sweet-tempered, had turned into an aggressive fiend because of his greed and discontent. 

Despite all his efforts, the fourth gourd remained unfilled for a long, long time. Chipila became very impatient. He had become so unfriendly that even Zongwe had to stay away from him to avoid trouble. Zongwe was very unhappy that his friend was wasting his health and youth in such a foolish manner. He could not understand Chipila's strange behaviour at all. At times he even suspected that some evil people had set witchcraft to work on Chipila. Yet, Zongwe offered shelter and food to Chipila in his own hut and watched over him with great care and tenderness. 

Chipila started stealing things from people and bartering them outside his village. This pilfering went on for a while, till Zongwe got busy with harvesting on his land. As Chipila had become an unreliable loafer, Zongwe had to take the help of others. When the work was over, Zongwe stored part of the produce in a huge kiln for future use and bartered the rest of the corn for a skin bag full of cowries. This bag attracted the attention of greedy Chipila. His wish to fill his gourd grew. Chipila began to watch for the moment when he could steal Zongwe's bag and run to the cave. 

His chance came early one morning, when Zongwe was fast asleep. Kind, trusting Zongwe had left the bag unattended in the corner of the hut. Chipila crept out of his bed, grasped the bag with both hands and quietly left the hut. Chipila's greed had made him forget that it was Zongwe who had fed and sheltered him all along. His greed blinded him completely. 

In a short time, Chipila found himself in the cave. He hurriedly undid the string from the bag and eagerly poured all the contents into the fourth gourd. Instantly the gourd filled up to the brim and overflowed, while some of the cowries scattered all around him. What a great relief! How glad he was! 

"Hee hee hee, ha ha ha!" Chipila laughed with great satisfaction, until the cave echoed with his laughter. 

"I have done it! I have done it!" he repeated several times. "Hee hee hee, ha ha!" came another laugh from within the cave. 

Chipila turned round to see who it was. There, in front of him stood the most evil-looking spirit any human had ever seen. Chipila's mouth and eyes opened wide with awe, for that was truly the spirit of an ancestor, a greedy old man though he might have been. 

"Hee hee hee, my son," continued the spirit with a ghastly smile, "you have indeed done it. I have been waiting all these years for someone to fill the fourth gourd for me. Now my wish is fulfilled, and I am deeply thankful to you!" 

Laughing aloud, the greedy spirit vanished into thin air, taking all the four gourds with it. 

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