On that occasion he had been taken directly into the prince’s bedroom. There he
found a frightened young man, who had awakened in the darkness with an extremely
fast heartbeat – more than double normal, Stulwig discovered when he counted the
pulse. The attending court healer had not been able, by his arts, to slow the
madly beating organ. Stulwig had braced himself, and had taken the time to ask
the usual questions, which produced the information that his highness had
imbibed excessively all evening.
A minor heart condition was thus revealed. The cure: primarily time for the body
to dispose of the alcohol through normal channels. But Stulwig asked, and was
given, permission to return to his greenhouse. He raced there accompanied by a
Hell Hound. Arrived at his quarters, he procured the mixture of roots, nettles,
and a large red flower which, when steeped in boiling water, and swallowed in
mouthfuls every few minutes, within an hour had the heartbeat down, not to
normal, but sufficiently to be reassuring.
He thereupon informed the young man that according to his father persons that he
had attended when they were young, who had the same reaction, were still alive
two decades later. The prince was greatly relieved, and promised to limit
himself to no more than one drink of an evening.
Remained, then, the task of saving face for the court healer. Which Stulwig did
by thanking that disgraced individual for calling him for consultation; and,
within the hearing of the prince, adding that it took many individuals to