It was a quiet night at Tapper's Tavern, when most Smurfs were just enjoying themselves by playing cards, darts, pinball, or board games with each other while drinking sarsaparilla ale. Empath was sitting at the counter working on the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle when he, Tapper, and Duncan noticed Narrator coming in, looking rather haggard.
"Empath...Tapper...Duncan...I'm so glad to smurf your faces," he said in an exhausted voice as he pulled himself up onto a seat near the counter.
"Great Smurfiny Crickets, my good Narrator, you sound as if you've been smurfing through Hades or worse," Tapper said. "Here, let me smurf you a good cup of tea to help you relax."
"Oh, that is very kind of you," Narrator said, as Tapper poured him a hot cup of smurfberry tea with mint.
"This smurf senses that you've been busy in your job being present in other stories than the ones you would normally appear in, Narrator," Empath said.
"Busy doesn't explain what I have been through, Empath," Narrator said, taking a sip of his tea after he received the cup. "Smurfing the job that I have isn't without its own set of hazards, as I would appear in places that I would not wish any of my fellow Smurfs here to smurf in."
"What kind of place would have you smurfing like this, laddie?" Duncan asked.
Narrator sighed. "It's the same kind of place that we all smurf in, Duncan, but things about it are completely different. Whenever I appear in a different story, it's as if time stops for me alone and I just smurf into the scenario like I've been in it all my entire life. The faces all smurf the same, though there are Smurfs in there that I don't ever see in this village. Some of them just don't even have names to them, as if they were just smurfed to be part of the background."
"Sometimes it's like that here, Narrator," Empath said. "There's a good deal of Smurfs that I don't normally associate with, and it makes me wonder what their purpose is in the village."
"I personally don't believe that any Smurf here is smurfed here for no purpose at all, if the Almighty has anything to smurf about it," Tapper said. "We may be as uniform as blades of grass, but even blades of grass smurf a purpose when they're all together."
"That may be the whole purpose of the story that I was smurfed into, Tapper, and to smurf witness of," Narrator said.
"Don't smurf us all in suspense, my good boy," Duncan said, sounding eager. "I want to hear just what it is you've witnessed."
"As I have said, the story smurfs place in a village just like our own, with Smurfs that are just like us, only different in some ways," Narrator said.
...
And as Narrator told his story, Empath, Tapper, and Duncan saw in their own minds that very same village, with Smurfs doing the same things that they themselves would normally do: working, playing, talking with each other, and having fun. And like the village they themselves knew of, Papa Smurf observed it all and felt glad that things were going along peacefully in the village.
"Hey, Hefty, I've got a little present for you," Jokey said as he approached his fellow Smurf with one of his surprises.
"Oh, really?" Hefty said, sounding like he was eager to find out what it is. "This should be interesting."
"I promise that you'll smurf a real bang out of it," Jokey said, snickering.
And as Hefty opened the present, it exploded on him as usual.
"Surprise!" Jokey shouted, laughing as he left Hefty holding what was left of the present.
Just then, Tuffy came by hauling some sacks when he noticed Hefty falling for Jokey's usual prank. "I wonder why you always smurf for the same old trick that Jokey smurfs on you, Hefty," Tuffy said as he put down the sack and wiped his brow with a handkerchief.
"Oh, I just know him, Tuffy," Hefty said, tossing what was left of the box away. "He can smurf a good joke from time to time, but he never seems to smurf any harm with them. Of course, I like the jokes better when he smurfs them on Brainy of all Smurfs."
"Doesn't every Smurf in the village," Tuffy said. "In the meantime, I'm trying to help Miller smurf these heavy smurfs of grain to Greedy's kitchen, and I could sure use the help in smurfing them, because I can't smurf them all by myself."
"Smurf no more, Tuffy," Hefty said. "I'd be willing to smurf you out with the sacks."
"Hold on there, laddie," another Smurf wearing a blue plaid kilt said. "I'm not gonna left Hefty smurf all the work by himself."
"Figures that you would smurf along just to smurf the heavy work, Gutsy," Hefty said.
"Well, what are Smurfs like you and me for, Hefty?" Gutsy asked. "Besides, it wasn't you who asked for help anyway."
"I couldn't ask for better Smurfs like you to be my friends," Tuffy said, sounding pleased. "Miller and Greedy will really appreciate it."
"Now this is a really odd story you're smurfing us, Narrator," Duncan said, watching as the Gutsy in the story walked off with Hefty and Tuffy carrying the sacks. "Hefty and I never smurf off as being this friendly with each other."
"That's just simply how the Smurfs were in this story...friendly at the first," Narrator explained. "It was after some time that things began to change."
And as the three Smurfs watched, two Smurfs who were going in opposite directions toward each other ended up passing close by, when one of the Smurfs just bumped into each other.
"Hey!" one of the Smurfs said. "Why don't you look where you're smurfing?"
"Watch where I was smurfing?" the other Smurf said. "It's your fault, you stupid Smurf, for smurfing so close to me."
"I'm starting to see what's changing in this village you were in, Narrator," Tapper said, observing what was going on. "These Smurfs aren't as friendly as they were when the story had started."
"Indeed, Tapper, and that was just the beginning," Narrator said. "One by one, the Smurfs were treating each other as if they were strangers and even complete enemies. Smurfs were refusing to help each other with simple tasks. They were becoming spiteful and impatient, and some were just downright mean and rude to each other. Papa Smurf watched everything start to change around him and was wondering what was smurfing on that would smurf on such a change in the Smurfs."
"Even Smurfette is starting to change," Empath noticed, as he watched what appeared to be Amore bringing a bouquet of flowers to her so he could ask her something.
"Oh, Smurfette, you would make me the happiest of Smurfs if you would accept an invitation to smurf with me under the smurfy moonlight," Amore said in his most romantic voice.
"With you? Not a chance, Amore," Smurfette said coldly as she walked away from him. "Have you smurfed at yourself lately?"
Amore walked away upset as he tossed the bouquet of flowers aside. "Oh, who does Smurfette think she is anyway?"
In the meantime, Jokey approached Vanity with an object in his hand. "Guess what I found, Vanity?" he announced.
Vanity recognized the object. "Oh, it's my mirror! Thank you so much, Jokey! I really appreciate the effort you smurfed into finding it!"
"I bet you can't wait to smurf your own reflection," Jokey said.
"This is truly the moment I've been waiting for, Jokey...to smurf my own reflection again wherever I go," Vanity said. And then he looked at himself in the mirror and screamed. "AAAAAAAH! I smurf so ugly!"
Jokey laughed as he watched Vanity walk away crying, leaving the mirror on the ground. "It's one of my joke mirrors that you fell for, Vanity."
Papa Smurf watched Jokey playing the prank on Vanity. "Shame on you, Jokey, for smurfing such a prank on him," the village leader scolded. "Don't you have any consideration for your fellow Smurf's feelings?"
"It's all his fault for being such a smurfy crybaby, Papa Smurf," Jokey snorted. "But you have to admit...he sure did smurf rather ugly."
Papa Smurf watched Jokey walk away snickering to himself, not caring that he played a cruel prank on Vanity. "These Smurfs of mine used to be so kind to each other," he said to himself, pondering the situation. "I will have to smurf a talk with them to smurf the matter straight."
...
And so with Harmony's summoning, Papa Smurf had a talk with his little Smurfs around the speaking mushroom, as Empath, Tapper, and Duncan watched the scene from a distance.
"My little Smurfs, I am greatly displeased with all of you," he said in a stern voice. "For some time now, there has been a lot of bickering, and none of you are smurfing anything to smurf an end to it. I know it isn't easy to continually smurf good character and to smurf with the faults of others every day, but this behavior of yours has got to stop sometime soon. If it doesn't stop, believe me when I say it, the unity of our village may be in danger, and the village itself will be in danger as well. Now go and smurf about what I have just smurfed."
"Bravo, Papa Smurf," Brainy said, clapping his hands in applause as Papa Smurf stepped down from the speaking mushroom. "Those were very good words you have smurfed. I'm sure that the other Smurfs have smurfed your message."
Papa Smurf sighed. "I only hope so for our sakes, Brainy."
As the Smurfs all walked away from the speaking mushroom, Handy was talking things over with another Smurf. "What's Papa Smurf smurfing on about?" Handy said. "We may have disagreements with each other, but we don't argue."
"Of course not, Handy," the other Smurf said. "It's as if you were smurfing to blame me for the hammer you have smurfed me the other day that I did not resmurf to you!"
"That's right," Handy said. "But all the same, smurf me back the hammer."
"Oh, that!" the other Smurf said. "Well, it's just a hammer!"
"But it was MY hammer," Handy said in a louder voice.
"Hey, don't get so smurfed up over nothing," the other Smurf responded in kind.
"THIEF!" Handy shouted
"Smurf that back or I'll..." the other Smurf shouted.
...
"Michty me! Those Smurfs are sure acting like they've got bees in their bonnets, laddie," Duncan said.
"Papa Smurf was hoping that his little Smurfs would smurf things under control, Duncan, but as the days passed, things just smurfed from bad to worse," Narrator explained.
And as the three Smurfs watched, Papa Smurf was busy working on an experiment when he heard two Smurfs arguing outside his laboratory, and the argument got to the point where he could hear fists flying. He went outside the laboratory and saw that Harmony and another Smurf were fighting with each other.
"You break my smurfs with your music, Harmony," the other Smurf shouted.
"You have no taste in music," Harmony shouted back.
"Enough, you two," Papa Smurf said, stepping in between the two Smurfs to separate them. "This behavior of yours is really shameful."
"It was Harmony who started it, Papa Smurf," the other Smurf said.
"That's not true!" Harmony countered. "Anyway, it was Greedy Smurf's fault, because he..."
And the two Smurfs continued to blame each other until Papa Smurf shouted, "ENOUGH! I don't want to smurf anymore about this! I want you both to go to your homes and smurf there!"
As Papa Smurf watched the two Smurfs walk off shaking their fists toward each other and muttering threats, he stroked his beard in thought. A Smurf named Brewer, who vaguely resembled Tapper, caught Papa Smurf standing there by himself thinking. "Great green hills, Papa Smurf, what smurfs to be on your mind right now?" he politely asked.
"They still don't understand, Brewer," Papa Smurf said. "I do my best to try smurfing peace among my little Smurfs, and my methods don't seem to smurf anything to change their attitude. How do I make my little Smurfs see that they're smurfing for a catasmurphe?"
"I wish I knew what to suggest to you, Papa Smurf," Brewer said. "But someone's got to smurf up a mirror to them and help them to see that this kind of behavior that's smurfing on isn't what you want your little Smurfs to be smurfing."
"Smurf up a mirror to them," Papa Smurf said to himself while he was thinking of something.
Brewer noticed that Papa Smurf's eyes flashed wide as inspiration hit him. "What is it, Papa Smurf?" he asked, sounding curious.
"I think that I may have an idea that may smurf them all a good lesson, Brewer," Papa Smurf said before he headed back into his laboratory.
Smurf to Part 2