#!/usr/bin/perl

package Database;

my $database = {};

sub TIEHASH {
  my ($class, $key, $value, @options) = @_;
  
  # my $db = DBI->connect(...);
  # ... more database stuff
     
  $database->{"$key"} = $value;
        
  return bless $database;         
}

sub FETCH {
  return $database->{"One"};
}

##</code><code>##

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Database;

my %one, %two;

tie (%one, Database, "One", "hard");

print $one{"One"};

tie (%two, Database, "One", "soft");

print $two{"One"};