Wild's First Christmas/Part 2

"Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen, When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even; Brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel, When a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel."

This was the song played by a minstrel in a human village not far from the Smurf Forest, which Grandpa Smurf had taken Sassette to for his own personal Christmas present he wanted to share with the young female Smurfling. Throughout the marketplace there was a lot of commotion as jesters and acrobats put on their entertainments for the masses, marketers were selling crafts of all kinds, and merchants were peddling all sorts of food and drink. One of them was juggling a few apples around from his cart when one of them fell to the ground.

"So this is what a human village is like during Christmas, Grampy?" Sassette asked as she and Grandpa Smurf peered out from behind the wagon of the apple cart, watching the apple fall to the ground.

"Not too different from our own village, youngster...only much bigger," Grandpa Smurf said. He picked up the apple that had fallen. "Care for a bite?"

"All of this is just so exciting for me to watch, I can't even think of eating," Sassette said. "Smurf at the toys that are being smurfed, especially that puppet that the old man is smurfing with. Can we smurf a closer look?"

"Why, certainly, Sassy," Grandpa Smurf said. "But let's make sure that the humans don't smurf us."

The elder Smurf and the Smurfling crossed safely between the carts on the street when nobody was looking, with Grandpa Smurf still carrying the apple with him. In an alley that the two Smurfs passed by, a hooded figure peered out and watched the scene with wicked delight.

"Christmas, my favorite time of year," the hooded figure said. "It's when everybody's purse is full of gold, and just ripe for the picking." He watched as a man was pulling out gold from his purse to purchase a necklace that a woman was selling. "There's a fat juicy Christmas goose just waiting to be plucked."

The hooded figure slipped out of the alley, ready to make his move. He passed by Sassette and Grandpa Smurf as they were passing through, trying not to be noticed.

Grandpa Smurf barely spotted the human figure. "Now that was a close one," he exhaled with some relief.

"Grandpa, look," Sassette said, pointing toward the same human figure and watching as he was secreting the other man's coin purse out of his coat pocket. "Why did that human steal the other one's money?"

Grandpa saw the same thing happen. "I don't know, Sassy, but not all humans have smurfy intentions in mind."

The other man felt something missing from his pocket, and then turned around and noticed. "My money is gone!" he cried out.

"Slippery salamanders, Grampy, that hooded man's getting away," Sassette said as they both watched him make a run with the other man's coin purse.

"Not for long, if my aim is smurf," Grandpa Smurf said. He threw his apple straight at the hooded man's hands, knocking the coin purse to the ground and causing him to yelp in pain.

The other man heard his coin purse jingle. He turned to see the hooded figure. "My money!" he cried out. "Stop! Thief!"

"Ah, curses," the hooded figure said as he ran for the safety of an alleyway to hide in.

"Smurfabunga! That was an awesome move you smurfed!" Sassette said, hugging Grandpa Smurf.

"After all these years, I haven't lost my smurfing arm," Grandpa Smurf said. "Of course, now we just lost a very good apple."

"We'll smurf another one, Grampy," Sassette said.