We were just reminded that there are points in the original Legend of Zelda second quest where you can permanently lose a heart container. Is it possible to have less than three heart containers if you don't pick up any before reaching one of those? I'd like to find out, but it's hard enough to get to that point with ten or twelve heart containers; trying to get there with three would be a task for someone more skilled than we are.
I'm especially curious--I don't know how many such points there are in the game, but I'm especially curious as to whether it's possible to have less than one heart container, and what the game does in that situation.