At The Mercy Of Thy Enemy/Part 4

"Great Ancestors," Polaris exclaimed as he saw that part of the story. "It does seem to appear that Gargamel has trouble trying to rein in his anger impulses."

"And that everytime he gets really angry or spiteful, he starts to shrink again," Empath added. "At that rate, he could have shrunk himself into oblivion and no Smurf would ever really miss him."

Duncan chuckled at that thought. "Funny how things don't smurf out the way that you'd want them to, laddie. It's no wonder a good deal of us were waiting for you to smurf home from Psychelia and give the evil wizard a well-deserved smurfing and a fond farewell from our lives forever."

"Gargamel will have to answer for how he smurfed his life here on this earth, as will everyone here, my fellow Duncan," Tapper said. "For the holy book says straight from God's own mouth, 'As I live, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God.' That's why I prefer to let the Almighty smurf that wizard's fate by His own hand and not by ours."

"This smurf understands, Tapper," Empath said. "So now Gargamel's shrunk to the size of a bug. How does he start to get back to his normal size?"

"Papa Smurf started smurfing two and two together when he realized what was making Gargamel shrink besides the pollution he accidentally ingested, Empath," Tapper said.

And as Tapper continued his story, Empath and Polaris both saw Papa Smurf and the other Smurfs gathered around the tree stump, looking at Gargamel at his new size. Some of the Smurfs seemed worried, while others seemed like this was what they wanted to happen to their adversary all along.

"Hmmm, I'm afraid that even my anti-pollution solution cannot help you, Gargamel," Papa Smurf said.

"Oh, Papa Smurf, will I never be cured?" Gargamel asked, sounding fearful.

Papa Smurf stroked his beard while trying to think about what he had seen so far. "Well, it seems that you shrink every time you do something bad," he said. "Perhaps if you did something good, Gargamel, you might get bigger."

"Something good?" Gargamel said, as if the concept of doing good sounded very repulsive to him. "You must be joking. Good...me?"

"I'm afraid it's your only hope, Gargamel," Papa Smurf said. "If you continue to get angry, you could shrink yourself into oblivion, and that will be the end of you."

"Gargamel ever smurfing something good would be a miracle in itself, laddie," Duncan said to Tapper.

"I believe this may be the chance I'm smurfing for, Duncan," Tapper said. "The Almighty may be smurfing into that wizard's heart to smurf him to a place of humility and repentance."

"Papa Smurf, Papa Smurf," Tracker cried out, pointing to something occuring high up in a tree. "A butterfly is caught in a spider's web. I must free it or else."

"Hmmm, just a moment, Tracker," Papa Smurf said. He then picked up Gargamel in his hands and carried him over to the tree where the spider web was located. "This might be a chance to test my theory, Gargamel. If you can free that butterfly from the spider's web, you might smurf a little bigger."

"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," Gargamel said as he started to climb up the tree. "What possible good can doing good do? Simply ridiculous."

Nevertheless, Gargamel made it to the spider's web, pulling on one of its threads to try loosening it so that the butterfly could get free. But in his struggle, the Smurfs could see that the spider was nearby and ready to make Gargamel her next meal.

The Smurfs gasped as they saw the spider appear, with Painted exclaiming, "Sacre bleu cheese!"

"Look out, Gargamel! The spider!" Smurfette called out.

Gargamel turned and saw for himself the fearsome creature approaching. "Egads!" he cried out as he continued to struggle with the thread he was pulling on. He tried to run away, but the thread stuck on Gargamel and pulled him onto the web, which then caused the butterfly to be free of the web and fly away. Gargamel cried out for help as the spider continued to approach, but before the spider could reach him, Gargamel grew until he was big enough to break through the web and fall safely to the ground.

"Are you all right, my fellow Gargamel?" Tapper asked as he and the other Smurfs now looked at the wizard in his new size.

"Never felt better," Gargamel answered as he looked at himself and realized how big he had gotten, even though he was still smaller than a Smurf. "You were right, Papa Smurf. Helping that butterfly did make me grow, at least a little."

"Still not enough to become that fearsome giant that he was before, and I can only hope he smurfs that way," Duncan said quietly.

"I do not like the idea of Gargamel returning to what he was before this had happened, my fellow Duncan, but I'd rather him do so while learning important lessons that could smurf him into a better man," Tapper said.

"Yet your holy book smurfs that if a leopard cannot change his spots or an Ethiopian his skin color, then neither can one who is accustomed to smurfing evil be able to smurf any good," Duncan said.

"I am very aware of that Scripture verse," Tapper said. "But again, I'm believing that the Almighty is smurfing on his heart, and who knows what will become of our adversary if we can smurf him that the way of goodness is very good for him."

To be expanded on.