[The story is taken from Goenggeq gangj gojgaeq Bwz Licuh, At Grand-father’s Knee - Zhuang Folk Tales from Wuming - 主編白丽珠 ; 副主編李作应. The storyteller is Cim Naibing from the town of Fucheng in Wuming County, Guangxi]

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Long ago there lived two sisters, an older one who was diligent and hardworking, and a younger one who was very lazy. The two sisters were very different from one another, and their lots in life were different also. The elder had two children, and her husband had died leaving her a widow. She had a hard time trying to support her family. As for the younger, she was quite well off.

One day the older sister went to her younger sister's house to borrow some rice, but the younger sister wanted to make things difficult, and would not lend her any. Now the younger sister was very lazy. She did not do her laundry or even wash her hair. She hadn't washed her hair for so long that she had lice. So she said, "Well, you do my washing for me, and then wash my hair for me too. When you are done, you can take some rice home with you.

The older sister did all these things for her, and then the younger sister asked, "Have you picked all of the lice out of my hair already?".

"Yes, I have picked them all out, and I have also done the washing. Everything is finished up." As it turned out, the younger sister had hidden a louse underneath one of her fingernails. Now she reached up and scratched her head, and then she stuck out that finger and said, "There are still some lice. Search my head for more!".

So the older sister combed through her hair again. She searched and picked until she couldn't find even one more, and then she said, "They are all gone." The younger sister scratched once more and then stuck out that same finger again. "Look here, as soon as I scratched my head I got another one, so how can you say there aren't any more? Get back to work and search carefully this time!" In the end, the older sister did a whole day's work and got nothing in return. When night fell, she groped her way back home in the dark, empty-handed and crying all the while. Along the way, there was an old man who called out to her. "Why are you crying?".

"Oh, what's the use?" she said, but she talked on: 1 went to my sister's house to borrow a bit of rice to feed my children, but she told me to do some work for her first. Then after I did all the work, she still didn't give me even one grain of rice!" Saying that, she turned to leave..

The old man quickly called after her, "You are leaving?.

On your way home you will capture a pair of snakes." Suddenly there was a pair of snakes on the path, blocking her way, not letting her go forward. "Well, since I don't have any rice tonight, why don't I just take these snakes home to feed to my children?" So she took the bag that she had brought to put the rice into, held it open, and put it down on the ground. The snakes immediately crawled into the bag and let her take them home with her..

After she got home she hurriedly chopped up the pair of snakes and boiled them up for her two children, but by the time the meat was done, they had already fallen fast asleep. Rather than waking them up, she decided to let them sleep on..

Back ther there were no matches to start afire easily, so one had to bank the fire at nighe so there would be embers left in the morning. If this was not done properly, ad the fire died out, then the next morning one had to go from house to house looking for embers to rekindle it..

The next morning a neighbor woman just happened to come into their house looking for some embers. She went into the kitchen looking for five coals, but busybody that she was, she also lifted the pot lid to see what was inside. She saw that it was full of gold! Then she stuffed a bit into her bag and went home. After she got home, however, the gold was no longer gold - it had turned into crusty, dried out rice. So then she took the crusty rice back over to their house, and returned it to the pot. As soon as it went down into the pot, it turned back into gold..

The woman ran out from the kitchen calling out to the older sister, "Congratulations! You are wealthy! You have a pot full of gold.".

The sister answered, "I don't have any gold! All that is in the kitchen is some snake meat. Yesterday I went to my sister's house to borrow some rice, and she wouldn't give me any. On my way home I caught some snakes and I brought them home and cooked them." But when she went into the kitchen and lifted up the pot lid to look for herself, the snakes in the pot really and truly had turned into gold..

From then on it w the older sister's turn to live the good life. She was able to build a new house, and her sons were able to take wives. They had plenty to eat and to wear, everything they needed. Everyone in the family was hardworking, and they all lived frugally, so they soon amassed quite a large family fortune. Moreover, they were happy to help out whoever was in need..

As for the younger sister, however, she was too lazy to do anything save eating, and she and her family soon ate themselves poor. The tables were turned, and now the younger sister came begging at the older sister's door. When the younger sister arrived at the elder's house, they were spreading out the rice to dry in the courtyard. The older sister had used a sheaf of seed rice to block up the drain hole and keep the chickens out of the courtyard. The younger sister really wanted to eat some rice too. When she saw that her sister had used seed rice to block up the hole, she said,.

"What's this? Why did you do that, Sister?".

"Oh!" the elder answered. "Rich people and poor people have their own distinct way of doing things. If you want some rice, help yourself." The younger sister was so embarrassed that her face turned red right up to her ears.