Smurfing Like A Ray Of Sunshine/Part 3

On the following day, Polaris Psyche was busy doing his rounds as the chief of security in the Smurf Village, observing all the activities going on and making sure nothing was out of order both from within and without. Along his route Polaris could hear his fellow Smurfs all singing various songs as they worked, including the Smurf song. Carpenter was in his workshop whistling a song. Sculptor was in his studio doing the same. Tracker was manning the watchtower also whistling a song. Weaver was busy with his spinning wheel whistling a song. Greedy and his kitchen staff were working together and singing a song. It seemed that the presence of music was everywhere in the village.

Polaris watched as Farmer, Hefty, and Miner passed by him bringing wheelbarrows of fresh-harvested food straight from the fields to Greedy's kitchen, and they were also singing the Smurf song. They stopped and took a breath as soon as they reached the door.

"All this smurfing food from the fields has sure smurfed me up an appetite," Hefty said.

"Yup, it sure is great to have you helping me smurf in the food so that we can eat to our smurf's content," Farmer said.

"Sure'n this job is worth the break I'm taking from smurfing in the mines all day," Miner said.

"Sounds like you three deserve a nice cool glass of my freshly-smurfed lemonade," Greedy said as he stepped out of his kitchen carrying four glasses on a tray.

The three Smurfs each took a glass as also did Greedy, with Farmer taking a long swallow. "Well, there be nothing in this world like a good song and a glass of lemonade to smurfen up our day," Farmer said.

"Smurfin' begorah, you're right," Miner said, as the four Smurfs raised their glasses together.

Polaris walked on until he was outside of Tapper's Tavern, with the village bartender sweeping around outside his tavern and also whistling a song. "Greetings, my fellow Polaris," Tapper greeted. "How has your day been so far?"

"As usual, all activities in the Smurf Village are going along without any incident to report, fellow Tapper," Polaris said. "What interests this one is the constant presence of music that the Smurfs perform while they are busy with their everyday activities."

"It's just part of what being a Smurf is all about, my friend," Tapper said. "It's our way of expressing how happy and smurfful we are with our lives. One of the commands that the Almighty has smurfed unto his people is to smurf a joyful noise unto the Lord and give Him praise for the works that He has smurfed."

"It would seem fortunate that your religion permits you to express gratitude unto your deity through music," Polaris said. "It is an element that is completely alien among the Psyches who are commanded by the Psyche Master to worship him at all times."

"But you are free from that smurfed place that has smurfed you and Empath as its slaves, Polaris," Tapper said. "Surely you must feel something in your spirit that makes you want to smurf your thanksgiving in song."

"This one does admittedly feel gratitude for the freedom that this one has been afforded, Tapper," Polaris said. "Unfortunately, this one does not feel any sort of need to express it through music."

"What a terrible shame it must be for you," Tapper said. "To smurf your life without music of any kind, even among your fellow Smurfs, is something that I cannot even begin to imagine what it's like. I can only pray for you to feel music smurfing inside you so that you would not able to contain what you're feeling."

Just then, three of the Smurflings approached Polaris. "Hey, Polaris, have you smurfed Slouchy around here?" Snappy asked.

"Yeah, we're supposed to be practicing together so that we would be ready to smurf with Smurfette on her latest album," Sassette said.

"As far as this one knows, Slouchy has gone off into the forest with Puppy, though his purpose for doing so has not been stated," Polaris said.

"He probably wants to practice smurfing that song that he created without us," Nat said.

"Slouchy and that smurfdiculous song of his," Snappy said. "I'd be surprised if even Puppy doesn't want to hear him sing it."

"Slouchy is free to sing whatever he wants, my fellow Smurflings, and if he has just an audience of one that will listen to him, then so be it," Tapper said.

"Come on, Smurflings, we might as well go and practice our music without him," Nat said.

"I hope that Orbit gets finished smurfing up Smurfette's songs to his music soon," Sassette said as the three Smurflings moved along.

"This one senses that the three Smurflings do not appreciate the work of their fellow Smurfling with his own musical composition, Tapper," Polaris said after the Smurflings had left.

"Everybody's a critic when it smurfs to music that someone has smurfed from their own heart and spirit, Polaris," Tapper said. "But if it's something that a Smurf personally feels so strongly about expressing, then it's worthy of being performed no matter how hears it or how many." - Meanwhile, out in the forest, Slouchy is sitting by a tree with his horn while Puppy is with him, eagerly listening to him playing the song.

"I'm glad that at least you're here with me, Puppy, and that you seem to like the song that I have just smurfed up," Slouchy said. "I just wish that others would want to hear the same song as well."

Puppy barked out a response that seemed to express his approval.

"I'm going to ask Papa Smurf if I can smurf a performance of this song sometime soon," Slouchy said. "I don't care if it never becomes part of the first crystal disk album, because that isn't what I created it for. I just want to let my fellow Smurfs know how I feel about myself. It's been a few years since me and my fellow Smurfs have first smurfed into the village, and though I still think about the Lost Smurflings back on Smurfling Island, I wouldn't want to think about smurfing back there for all the smurf in the world. It's too bad that my fellow Smurflings just don't appreciate that same feeling."

Puppy let out a sympathetic moan.

"At least you seem to understand, Puppy," Slouchy said. "I'm sure you don't want to smurf back to the life that you once had before you smurfed with us into the village." He let out a heavy sigh. "Well, I might as well smurf the words one more try before we smurf back to the village and ask Papa Smurf." - Around the same time, a carriage was riding through the forest with an elderly woman dressed in a blue robe and hood sitting in the passenger seat. She was Chlorhydris, the evil witch who resided in an observatory outside the Smurf Forest.

"Ah, that International Hate Convention that I attended was certainly an inspiration," he said to herself, sounding content. "It has made me more determined than ever to remove love from the world, to make everybody feel as miserable as I am without the love in my life that I was supposed to marry."

Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of Smurfs singing from the Smurf Village, which made Chlorhydris cringe as she covered her ears. "Aaaah...if there's something that I can't stand, it's the sound of happy music," she muttered as she leaned out of her window. "Faster, Reeves...I want to get away from this noise as quickly as possible."

Her driver Reeves made the horses pulling the carriage run faster, and as soon as he made a turn onto the road that would lead to the witch's observatory, the sound of the singing died down. Chlorhydris let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the forces of evil that the wretched singing is over," she said to herself.

Then suddenly she could hear a lone Smurf voice singing: "I sing of a place that is happy and free,..."

Chlorhydris shrieked as she covered her ears again. "Oh, not again! It seems that I am doomed to hear that insipid happy music wherever I go!"

The carriage continued on its way until it reached the front door of the observatory. Chlorhydris got out and went inside into her study where she could hear that everything is silent...until there was the sound of a smurfberry bird chirping a happy tune on a tree branch nearby. She quickly pulled the shutters of her windows closed one by one in the hopes of blocking out the music from ever penetrating her walls.

"I'll have you yet, you miserable music makers," the evil witch ranted. She walked over to a chair where her pet toucan was waiting for her, sitting on top of a globe. "At last, peace and quiet."

"It's about time," her toucan squawked.

Chlorhydris thought about something before she suddenly caused her globe to spin around along with her toucan. "If I can find a way to rid music from the world, then everyone will be miserable and love will be gone...forever," she said as she sat back on her chair and contemplated on the thought.

The toucan felt a little dizzy as soon as the globe stopped spinning around. "That's a-right," he commented.

Chlorhydris picked up one of her spell books and looked through it. "Muscles...muses...ah, here it is: a spell to do away with musical notes. This will be perfect...and I have just the thing to use in order to use the spell." She got up from her chair and went to her wardrobe to pull out a musical instrument stored inside. "I knew that if I kept Uncle Herbert's horn long enough, I might find a useful purpose for it someday."

Soon the witch was ready to cast her spell. With her horn placed outside the tower of her observatory, Chlorhydris carried a bowl of the formula she created to be used with the spell. The clouds above grew dark and stormy as if anticipating the moment when the spell would be cast.

"Take each song, each sound, and each musical note, bury them here in your long golden throat," the witch recited the incantation as she poured the formula into the horn. "There will be no more love, there will be no more mirth, for musical sounds will be gone from the earth."

As soon as the incantation was complete, the smurfberry bird started to sing again, only now its musical sounds were replaced by musical notes appearing in the air and then entering into the horn. With a lightning blast that struck the horn, the witch saw that the spell is now complete.

"It's working," Chlorhydris cackled in glee as the smurfberry bird flew away soundlessly singing. "Soon the world will enjoy nothing but the sound of sweet silence." - In the Smurf Village, the evil music spell would have its effect. Harmony began to play his horn, but soon there was nothing coming from his horn but just music notes flying in the air. "Hey, what happened to my music?" he said to himself.

Handy was busy working on somebody's roof and whistling the Smurf song when the sound of the whistling stopped dead. "What the smurf happened to my whistle?" he said to himself.

Orbit was in his studio playing his music samples when suddenly the sound of his smurfesizer also stopped dead. "Great Smurfness! Something must be wrong with the smurfesizer!" he said to himself.

Sloppy's guitar playing also ended in dead silence. "Uh-oh, that doesn't sound so good," he said to himself.

Everywhere throughout the village, the Smurfs experienced the moment when all the music in the world had just stopped dead. Whether they were playing an instrument, or humming, or whistling, or even just vocalizing, every single musical sound was replaced by musical notes flying in the air.

Empath and Smurfette had noticed this for themselves in their singing rehearsals. One moment they were both singing fine, and the next moment it was as if the both of them had caught laryngitis.

"Great Ancestors," Empath said. "It is as if we both lost our singing voices, Smurfette,"

"But how is it that we can still speak well and yet sing so weakly, Empath?" Smurfette asked, sounding fearful.

"This smurf does not know the answer, Smurfette," Empath said. "But we might as well inform Papa Smurf about this as soon as possible." - Papa Smurf found himself surrounded by all his little Smurfs gathered around outside his laboratory. "What is the meaning of all this?" he asked.

"Pappy Smurf, there's no sound of music anymore," Sassette said.

"No music?" Papa Smurf asked. "What are you smurfing about?"

"Just listen to this, Papa Smurf," Harmony said. He tried to play from his horn, and again only music notes came flying out of the horn instead of sound.

Papa Smurf watched as the music notes rose into the air and flew away from the village. "Great Smurfs Of Fire! It's as if something is smurfing all the music from the world, for what reason I don't know."

"I sense in my spirit that there's an evil spell behind this, Papa Smurf," Tapper said.

"I would have to agree with you, Tapper," Papa Smurf said. "We will have to follow the music notes to wherever they are being smurfed to in order to find out who cast this spell."

Just then Empath and Smurfette approached. "Papa Smurf, you are aware of the problem of the music suddenly stopping dead throughout the village?" he asked.

"I am already aware of it, Empath," Papa Smurf said. "I'll be taking Harmony with me out into the forest to see where the music notes are smurfing. Meanwhile, you should stay in the village and keep the other Smurfs from smurfing into a panic about this situation."

"This smurf understands and acknowledges, Papa Smurf," Empath said.

"I would like to smurf with you to find out who cast this evil spell, Papa Smurf," Tapper said.

"Very well then, Tapper," Papa Smurf said. "Harmony, keep smurfing your horn for as long as you can."

"Gladly, Papa Smurf," Harmony said. He continued to blow into his horn to produce musical notes that flew in the air as he, Papa Smurf, and Tapper went into the forest together.

"Good luck, Papa Smurf," the Smurfs said in unison.

Just then, Slouchy arrived in the village with Puppy. "Papa Smurf, every Smurf, listen to me. I was just out in the forest smurfing my song and then suddenly..."

"We know what has happened, Slouchy," Snappy said. "All the music in the world is gone."

"Papa Smurf has gone into the forest with Harmony and Tapper to find out where all the music in the world is being pulled to, Slouchy," Empath said. "They should be able to find a way to restore the ability to play or sing music once they find out who cast the spell."

"But who would want to smurf all the music from the world?" Nat asked.

"This smurf is uncertain of who would desire such a thing," Empath answered. "We'll just have to be patient and wait for the three Smurfs to return with the answers."

"Oh dear," Smurfette said. "I only hope we can smurf music back into the world soon."

"This smurf understands that this may put our music project on hold, Smurfette," Empath said consolingly. "However, this smurf is optimistic in believing that there is a solution to this problem that we will find and use as soon as possible."