Golden Pinecone Tree

The Golden Pinecone Tree is a legendary tree that appears in the EMPATH: The Luckiest Smurf flashback story "The Enchanted Evergreen". It is located on an island in the middle of a lake and is said to produce golden pinecones. The only ones who knew about the tree's location were Vini and Arboria, but Arboria refused to divulge its location to an evil witch who captured her, and thus Arboria was turned into a small evergreen tree. From that day on, her sister Vini stood by Arboria in the forest and protected her from whoever would come to destroy her in her new form.

Young Timber Smurfling encountered Vini and Arboria when he went out into the forest to cut down a tree for the Smurf Village's Winter Solstice celebration and found out why Arboria was turned into a tree. Evil Marduk, a human wizard overhearing their conversation about the Golden Pinecone Tree, threatened to destroy Arboria unless Timber and Vini brought back a pile of golden pinecones from the island before the day's end. With no choice but to give what Evil Marduk wanted, Vini and Timber traveled to the island where the legendary tree was located, only to find out that the tree itself produced regular pinecones.

Realizing that their only choice to save Arboria was to fool Evil Marduk into thinking he had the golden pinecones, Timber sent a message to Painter in the Smurf Village to bring a sack and a can of gold paint with him to the island, where they dyed a bunch of pinecones in gold paint to make them look like authentic golden pinecones. Timber and Painter brought the pinecones back to the forest with Vini following them so that Evil Marduk would take the pinecones and release Arboria from his intended threat against her life. While Evil Marduk was taken to the Smurf River to pick up the rest of the golden pinecones, Hefty, Handy, Duncan, and Tapper took Arboria to the Smurf Village, where Papa Smurf created a potion that would transform Arboria back into her old self. Now free of the curse, Arboria left with Vini to return to their parents.

Evil Marduk, in the meanwhile, tried to give the pinecones to the local bailiff and assessor to prevent them from taking his goods due to his condition of indebtedness. However, the assessor and bailiff both found out that the pinecones that Evil Marduk brought them were fake and thus proceeded with the confiscation of his goods, including the clothes on the wizard's back.