The Wonderful World of Rudolpha: The miraculous tea

It’s career week at the North Pole Animal Day Care. Today, Dr. Stethoscope the elf is talking to the class about his job.

“Can you cure all diseases?” asks Snowflake the polar bear.

“Many of them, yes,” answers the doctor.

“Have you ever treated Santa?” asks Storm the fox.

“As a matter of fact, I have.” The doctor looks at Rudolpha the reindeer and asks, “Do we have time for a story?” The teacher nods, and the elf begins.

“A few years ago, on the morning of Christmas Eve, Mrs. Claus called me in a panic. Santa was sick, and on his busiest day of the year. I ran over as fast as I could to examine him. He was suffering from H0H0, a rare virus. The cure was several weeks of bedrest, but Santa had to deliver presents to all the boys and girls around the world that very night.

“The news spread, and there was panic in the North Pole. The Star Fairy even held a press conference to assure the public Christmas wouldn’t be canceled.

“Many years before, a healer had taught me how to make a special tea that could cure all sicknesses. The only problem was that the ingredients were very hard to find. Luckily, elf magic allows our kind to appear anywhere on Earth instantly. I was going to need the help of my fellow elves to make the tea.

“I sent Jack and Nougat to the Windy Plains to pick pearl bells, a flower that rarely blooms in December. Bright and Taiga went diving in Floe Creek to harvest golden algae, which only grows in total darkness. Tricksy and Bliss went to the South Pole in search of austral miracle, a very rare magical herb.

“While I waited, I busied myself with trying to lower my patient’s fever, while his wife baked some cookies to restore his energy.

“Jack, Nougat, Bright and Taiga returned quickly with the ingredients they had been sent to find. But Tricksy and Bliss didn’t. I was starting to worry when they finally appeared with their bounty. They’d had long negotiations with the emperor penguins who are the protectors of austral miracle.

“Quickly, I made the tea, and helped Santa drink it. As soon as he swallowed the last drop, his fever broke and he was no longer sick. He looked at his watch and gasped. ‘I’m late for work!’

“‘Have a cookie first, my dear,’ said Mrs. Claus.

“‘I’ll eat it on the sleigh, I must leave!’ Santa called as he raced toward the runway.”

“I’ve never been that worried about a patient before or since,” continues Dr. Stethoscope. “But now I keep a supply of pearl bells, golden algae and austral miracle, just in case they’re ever needed again.”

“I haven’t been feeling well since yesterday,” says Mistral the penguin, pretending to cough.

Rudolpha frowns, “I think Dr. Stethoscope should keep the ingredients for a real emergency, don’t you?”

The elf doctor smiles. “Besides, the tea doesn’t taste very good at all,” he says.

Written by Johannie Dufour and Sarah Beauregard
Translated by Cyan Caruso-Comas