“O ho!” cried Mítsina. “No matter, no matter at all, my boys. Bet your bows and arrows and clothing; if you like, bet everything you have on, and I’ll put up that poleful there on the north side of my room.”
“Good! good! tell him all right,” whispered the younger brother to the elder.
So the elder agreed, chuckling to himself, for it was rarely that a man was found who could beat the little War-gods in a game. And they began their playing. How the turquoises rattled as they threw their canes! How the canes jingled and thumped as they fell on the robe!
The game was merry and long, and well played on both sides; but the poor little War-gods lost. Their countenances fell; but old Mítsina, with a merry twinkle in his eyes, exclaimed: “Oh pshaw! never mind, never mind!”
“Yes,” said the two War-gods, “but how in the world are we ever going back to our grandmother in this plight?”—glancing down over their bare bodies, for they had bet even the clothing off their backs. “What else can we bet? How can we win back what we have lost?”
“Bet your left thighs,” said the old hermit.
They thought a moment, and concluded they would do so. So the game was staked again and begun and the canes rattled merrily; but they lost again. Then old Mítsina suggested that they bet their other thighs. They did so and again lost. Then he suggested they should bet their left sides, hoping forthwith to get hold of their hearts, but the young War-gods were crafty. The elder one exclaimed: “All right!” but the younger one said: “Goodness! as for you, you can bet your left side if you want to, but I’ll bet my right, for my heart is on my left side, and who ever heard of a man betting away his heart!”
“Just as you like,” said Mítsina, “but if you’ll bet your bodies up to your necks I will stake all you have lost and all I have besides,” said he, looking around on his fine possessions.
“Done!” cried the War-gods. And again they played and again lost. Then they had nothing left but their heads and ears and eyes to bet. Finally they concluded to bet these also, for said they to one another: “What good will our heads do us, even though they be the crown-pieces of our being, without the rest?”
They played again, but the poor fellows lost their heads also. “Alas! alas! do as thou wilt with us,” exclaimed the little War-gods, with rueful countenances.