An unnamed narrator tells the following story: Chu-Bu is the accustomed resident in a temple where he is worshipped.
Sheemish is a freshly carved idol added to the same temple one day—and from that moment the two deities become jealous, taunt each other and attempt to outdo the other in achieving miracles.
She notes that the squabbling gods embody the colonialist clichés of irrationality and weakness, with their feeble insults and inability to defeat each other.
By the end of the story, one is forgotten and the other reduced to a mantlepiece ornament, whom the narrator thinks nothing of removing hundreds of miles from his home.
House-Thomas points out how this reflects justifications for imperialism such as indigenous peoples' alleged incapacity for self-rule and failure to preserve their heritage, necessitating Western intervention and curation.