"I shall tell you -- but know that it is a tale of gross iniquity. I warn you in advance, lest you are of a choleric temperament, and so become incensed at the injustice done unto me that you do yourself a mischief.
I am by training a natural philosopher, but condemned by the jealousy of the thick-headed doctors of my university to make my living as an itinerant surgeon. I was hired by a merchant of this city to cure his son, who fell into a coma after a fall from his balcony. I successfully trepanned the patient's skull to reduce the cranial swelling, but the family ignored my advice to treat the ensuing fevers with a tincture of willow bark, and the boy died. The father, rather than reward me for my efforts, charged me with sorcery -- me, a philosopher of nature! Such is the ignorance and ingratitude of mankind.
The lord of this castle is reluctant to place me under arrest, but I am anxious to move on elsewhere."