Chez Empath/Part 4

Out in the forest at this time, a couple of gnomes are busy collecting berries from a bush. "Hey, you think that we collected enough berries by now?" the tall gnome asked.

"You know the king's appetite," the small gnome answered. "We'd be lucky if we collect enough for a light snack."

"Why does that King Glouton always want to eat so much, anyway?" the tall gnome asked.

"What do you think? He's the king, and we're just his loyal servants," the small gnome answered. "Anyone questions him, you know what happens to them."

Then suddenly the both of them smell something delicious in the air. "Do you smell what I smell?" the tall gnome asked.

"Someone must have some good food nearby," the small gnome answered. "Let's go see where it's coming from."

They both turned to see Greedy out in the forest, sitting on a blanket and enjoying a whole slew of cakes, cookies, and desserts that he made all for himself. "Bet nobody can make a smurfberry supreme quite like I can," Greedy said to himself as he prepared to take a bite of it.

"Smurfberry supreme?" a gravelly voice broke in.

Greedy turned and saw a couple of gnomes standing nearby. "Uh, who are you?" Greedy asked.

"Oh, we're just a couple of hard-working gnomes," the small gnome answered.

"Can we have a taste?" the tall gnome asked.

"Sure you can," Greedy answered, handing them both a slice of the smurfberry supreme.

They both ate and found it rather tasty. "Mmmm...delicious," the small gnome said.

"Thanks...it happens to be one of my favorite recipes," Greedy said as he reached into his picnic basket for another slice of smurfberry supreme.

The two gnomes looked at Greedy rather surprised. "You made that?!?" they both said together.

"I sure did, and there's plenty more where that smurfed from," Greedy said, devouring another slice in one bite.

Suddenly the two gnomes grabbed Greedy. "Then you must come with us," one of them said as they carried him off toward the big wicker basket that they placed him in. Greedy struggled with all his might to break free of the gnomes, but was unsuccessful.

"King Glouton will be pleased with what we have found," the tall gnome said as he and his partner carried the basket back to their cave. - Meanwhile, within a cave, a fat gnome king is sitting on his throne devouring a piece of meat that has been prepared for him while his servant waited before him with a tray of food for his liege to sample.

"Well, that left me much to be desired," the king said as he placed the bone back on the plate, sounding greatly displeased. "Bring me my pastries!"

"The king's pastries!" each of the three gnome guards said in turn, from the smallest to the largest.

"Oh...uh, here you are, Sire," a servant said as he raced out into the throne room carrying a tray of pastries.

As the king took one of the pastries and started eating, a young gnome boy wearing prince clothes entered the room. "Oh, Father, it's time for our hike," the boy announced.

"Hike? What hike?" the king asked.

"Our hike...in the forest," the boy answered. "Don't you remember we were supposed to go on a hike together?"

"Oh, what a bore," the king said as he sat back on his throne, sounding displeased.

"But Father, you promised that...," the boy protested.

"I wasn't talking about the hike, Prince Leon," the king said. "These pastries are a bore. Bring me the Master Chef!"

"The Master Chef!" each of the three gnome guards said in turn, from the smallest to the largest.

"We never seem to have any fun together, just like the other gnomes with their own fathers," Prince Leon said, sounding disappointed.

"I promise you, my boy, we will do this after dinner," the king said.

"'After dinner'," Prince Leon snorted as he walked off. "It's always dinner around here!"

The king watched as the Master Chef was brought out before him by the guards. "King Glouton, Your Majesty, I beg of you...I am so tired," he humbly pleaded.

"And I am tired of your food, which has become so disappointing," King Glouton said. "I thought that you were different, but you were like all the others...a few good meals, and then..."

"But Your Highness, morning, noon, and night...it's eat, eat, eat!" the Master Chef complained. "I can't keep up with it!" He buried his face with his apron as he cried bitterly.

"Take him away to the usual place!" King Glouton commanded.

As the guards carried away the Master Chef while he was sobbing, the two gnomes from the forest have just entered the throne room. "Your Majesty, King Glouton, feast your tyrannical taste buds on this," the tall gnome said, pulling out a slice of Greedy's smurfberry supreme from the picnic basket after he and his partner had carried in the wicker basket containing Greedy.

King Glouton took the slice of dessert from the hand of the tall gnome and sniffed it briefly before shoving the whole slice right into his mouth. "Why, this food is just...just...," King Glouton began to say after swallowing.

"Delicious?" the tall gnome asked.

"Magnificent?" the small gnome asked.

"Why, it's fit for a king!" King Glouton finished his thought. "Who made this culinary masterpiece?"

"This blue guy that we found in the forest," the small gnome said as he pulled Greedy out of the wicker basket, who was still struggling to break free of his captors.

"How dare you smurfnap me!" Greedy shouted.

"How dare you indeed!" King Glouton said to the two gnomes, making them shiver in fear. "Please forgive me for my underlings' actions, uh..."

"Greedy Smurf is my name," Greedy answered.

"So you're the one who baked that culinary delight, that exquisite creation," King Glouton said.

"Yes, so what about it?" Greedy asked.

"Come, we must talk," King Glouton said as he got off his throne and took Greedy into the royal kitchen.

Greedy took a good look around at everything in the king's kitchen. "Holy Smurfoli! I've never in my life have ever seen such a kitchen like this before," Greedy said, sounding amazed.

"And this kitchen is all yours, if you wish," King Glouton said. "I'll reward you richly. We gnomes have plenty of gold and silver, enough to satisfy your desires."

"Actually, Your Highness, Smurfs don't care about riches or gold," Greedy said. "We have everything we could ever want right in our own forest."

"Of course you don't care about that," King Glouton said. "For a master like you, genius is its own reward."

Greedy was mesmerized by the high words of praise that were heaped upon him...by a king, no less. "Master...Genius...gosh! It's been a long time since anyone's ever smurfed me that!"

King Glouton now held a gold-weave chef's hat in his hand. "Do I dare to hope that you would be so willing as to accept the job?" he asked, sounding very persuasive.

"Gee, I never cooked for anyone that really appreciated me," Greedy said, sounding very pleased.

"Bravo!" King Glouton beamed as he placed the chef's hat upon Greedy's head. "Then it's settled! From now on, you will be known as Master Chef Greedy Smurf. Welcome to my kingdom."

Greedy smiled as he accepted the title and the new hat with pride. - Meanwhile, in the Smurf Village, most of the Smurfs have turned their picketing toward Tapper's tavern, where they have gathered around with signs saying OPEN UP TAPPER'S BAR AND GRILL and WE WANT EMPATH AND TAPPER while shouting their slogans very loudly.

Tapper as well as his friends Duncan, Sweepy, and Barber have teamed together to bar any entrance into the tavern. "There's no way that I'm going to let you smurf Empath into this foolish enterprise that you wish to smurf with my tavern," Tapper sternly warned.

"Your' tavern? This tavern belongs to the whole village, Tapper," one of the Smurfs said.

"Let us open Tapper's Bar And Grill on this spot," another Smurf said.

"Yeah, we want Empath to keep smurfing us food," a third Smurf said.

"If you Smurfs don't settle down here, I'm going to smurf you all a knuckle sandwich," Duncan said, raising his fist and shaking it.

"Aye, Tapper will close this place down if he has to, mates," Sweepy said.

"Go smurf your own meals for a change and stop bothering Empath," Barber said.

While this ruckus was going on, Empath was inisde the tavern with Smurfette and the Smurflings. "Anxious aardvarks, Empath, this picketing's really smurfing to be really dangerous out there," Sassette said, looking at the scene from a window.

"We can't keep ourselves holed up here forever, Empath," Nat said.

"You've got to do something to quiet this crowd down," Slouchy said.

"Just say that you'll smurf them at least one more meal, Empath," Snappy said. "Why couldn't that hurt?"

"You know Empath smurfed his foot down when he said that he was through serving his fellow Smurfs as the village chef, Snappy," Smurfette said.

"Maybe Snappy is right, Smurfette," Empath said. "If creating one more meal for them to eat will be enough for them will be enough for them to settle down, then that is what this smurf will have to do."

"But you know that's just what they want, Empath," Smurfette said. "They want you to ease down and smurf that you'll do it, and then the next thing you know, you'll be a prisoner in the kitchen."

"This smurf is either a prisoner in the kitchen or a prisoner inside the tavern...it still doesn't make much of a difference if they're so unhappy that they can't eat without a head chef," Empath said.

"That's why you've got to smurf something this right now, before the Smurfs in the village start smurfing things apart just to be able to smurf food," Snappy said.

Soon there was a knocking on the door. Empath opened and found that it was Papa Smurf. "This rioting is really smurfing out of hand, Empath...but really concerns me is that it's been hours and I haven't smurfed of Greedy returning to the village," Papa Smurf said.

"You think Greedy wants to smurf out of the village forever, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.

"Greedy only went out into the forest for an all-day picnic, Smurfette," Empath said. "If it's been this long since he was last seen in the village, then something must have happened to him."

"Oh dear," Smurfette said. "Now I wish the other Smurfs never thought of shunning Greedy in favor of you, Empath."

"Then you might as well smurf into the forest and see if you can find him at once," Papa Smurf said.

"This smurf acknowledges, Papa Smurf," Empath said. He then went to the door of the tavern. "Tapper, Duncan, you might as well come with this smurf. Greedy has been out in the forest for too long, and we need to find him before something finds him."

"Aye, Empath," Tapper nodded. "Come along, Duncan...we might as well go find our good friend Greedy."

"I'm coming along with you, Empath," Smurfette said as she left the tavern with Empath and the two other Smurfs.