I noted that in Red Prophet the curse on William Henry Herison said that if he didn't tell the truth once per day, horrible wounds would appear on him (1 per day) due to the curse. However, wouldn't the wounds show up on him in Alvin Journeyman when he runs for president, seriously hampering his activity?
Also, Tenswa-Taka (Probably got name horribly wrong) said he would live a long life. Admittedly, it was eight years, but then he got pnumonia.
Posted by IanO (Member # 186) on :
The curse wasn't that a new wound would appear each day. It was that, unlike the people of Vigor who had to tell their story to every stranger, Harrison had to find a new person to tell each day. And if he missed, his hands would start bleeding. And they would bleed until he made up all for those days he had missed telling someone. And if he ever lied about it, his hands would drip blood, even in the grave.
Calvin told Harrison the spin to give on the story. Harrison answered that if he told that his hands would always bleed. Calvin responded that the prophet wouldn't win, if he gave the tale a spin. Harrison took the suggestion. From then on, his hands bled. I remember in one campaign speech, he commented that he couldn't keep a shirt clean. But that was the price he paid to get rid of the red menace from properly white lands.
He should have lived a long time, per the prophet's prophecy. But Calvin is a maker (at least in ability) and so he, like Alvin, are the only ones able to circumvent 'natural' consequences. Hence, Harrison's death.