Soon every Smurf had gathered around the speaking mushroom at the sound of Harmony's horn. But they were surprised to find that it wasn't Papa Smurf making any announcement. It was Empath and Smurfette. They were curious to find out what they wanted.
"My fellow Smurfs," Empath began with a bit of uneasiness, "this smurf and Smurfette have finally decided that..." His voice trailed off in a long pause.
"You've finally decided what?" one of the Smurfs asked.
Smurfette elbowed Empath to spur him on. "Well, after a bit of deliberation and careful consideration, this smurf and Smurfette have finally decided that we cannot continue to live like this anymore, so..."
"Oh, no!" another Smurf said. "Don't tell us you're going to smurf yourselves off a cliff or something!"
"I hate smurfing myself off a cliff!" Grouchy said.
"It's not that at all," Empath said hastily, finding himself even more uncomfortable trying to make the announcement. "It's that we cannot continue to live apart from each other anymore, so..."
"So me and Empath are going to be married," Smurfette finally said.
"You and Empath...married?" Jokey said, chuckling. "That's a laugh!"
Then the other Smurfs joined Jokey in laughing, which made Smurfette look at them rather displeased for daring to laugh.
"You can laugh all you want, my fellow Smurfs," Empath said, not sounding displeased. "But this smurf and Smurfette have made our decision, and that decision is final! We ARE going to get married!"
Then suddenly the laughter stopped, and the other Smurfs looked at both Empath and Smurfette in shock.
"Empath! Smurfette! How could you?!?"
"Yeah, how could you smurf this to your fellow Smurfs?"
"I thought that you wouldn't love any Smurf more than any other!"
"And you, Empath, have the nerve to smurf her away from every other Smurf!"
"That's real unsmurfy of you both!"
And as the Smurfs continued to raise their complaints at the announcement, Papa Smurf had just walked onto the scene. "Please, calm down, my little Smurfs," he said to them. "What's all this smurfing about?"
"Empath and Smurfette have announced that they're going to be married!" one of the Smurfs said.
"Married?" Papa Smurf repeated, sounding a bit surprised.
"Yeah, Papa Smurf," another Smurf said. "This whole thing isn't fair."
"We love Smurfette, too. We don't want Empath to smurf her away from us."
And again more complaints were raised until Papa Smurf silenced them again.
"You Smurfs should be ashamed of yourselves," he said. "Empath and Smurfette finally want to be married, and all you Smurfs can do is complain about what's fair? You should be happy for Smurfette being able to choose the Smurf she wants to be with for all time, and you should be happy for her choice no matter how you feel toward Empath. If Smurfette had chosen any of you, wouldn't you want your fellow Smurfs to be happy? And wouldn't you want Smurfette to be happy no matter what?"
That made the other Smurfs stop and think. "Well, when you smurf it that way..."
"Of course Smurfette deserves to be happy."
"Why shouldn't she be able to smurf for herself?"
"I'd love her even if she does marry someone like Empath."
"Whatever smurfs her boat, is how I feel."
Eventually Papa Smurf saw that his little Smurfs were all in agreement over the issue of Empath and Smurfette's wedding announcement.
"Good," he said. "Now that we've gotten this smurfed away, I believe that the best way you can smurf how much you love Smurfette despite her choice is to give her and her bridegroom the best wedding, because I believe she would expect nothing less than your best for her regardless of the situation."
"But when are we going to smurf the wedding, Papa Smurf?" one of the Smurfs asked.
"First I'm going to need to talk to Empath and Smurfette privately about their decision," Papa Smurf said. "A marriage is not exactly something for us to just smurf into, so we need to make sure that this is what they truly want before we smurf any other preparations. I'll let you know when you can start smurfing for the ceremony. But for now, let's honor Empath and Smurfette's decision. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Papa Smurf!" all the other Smurfs said in unison.
Papa Smurf took Empath and Smurfette inside his laboratory for a private little chat. As the village leader paced around trying to think, Empath could see that Papa Smurf wasn't used to having most of his face being clean-shaven, as he now had to stroke his moustache whenever he pondered on something.
"I'm just a little disappointed that neither of you thought of smurfing me your decision first before smurfing it public to your fellow Smurfs," he finally said when he stopped pacing around.
"We're sorry, Papa Smurf, but we were so excited that we just couldn't wait," Smurfette said.
"The whole thing was just spur-of-the-moment thinking, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "Not that this smurf hasn't thought about what it meant to ask the question, but..."
"I know, Empath," Papa Smurf said, interrupting his son. "I'm sure that you've wanted to smurf that question to her for a long time. But are you sure that this is what you really want...to smurf together with each other for all time?"
"What would that mean for us, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.
"It means that you and Empath will be treated differently than you would normally be, Smurfette," Papa Smurf answered. "Your fellow Smurfs would no longer see you as a single female Smurf that they can freely smurf anything with. They will know that you belong solely to one Smurf for all time. And your freedom to interact with your fellow Smurfs will also be limited, because you know they will not be able to smurf you anymore as they used to."
"But I don't see why the Smurfs should smurf me as any different being married than they do if I choose not to be married," Smurfette said.
"Marriage is a bond between two people that is very exclusive, Smurfette," Empath explained. "And that exclusiveness means that the two people in the marriage are very protective of each other to the point where anything that tries to get in the way of that union, whether friendly or otherwise, can drive either partner to jealousy and even fits of anger."
"It's a very sacred union, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "There are things that smurf on in marriages that cannot be smurfed with anyone outside it. That's why you have to be careful about what you're smurfing into."
"And what about Empath?" Smurfette asked. "Doesn't he have to be very careful about who he smurfs with?"
"Fortunately there aren't many female Smurfs in the village that can smurf Empath's heart away from yours, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "But nevertheless, hearts do have a tendency to stray, and there are females of other smurfs of people that can smurf Empath's heart away. So Empath must also be on guard with himself as well."
"Right now, this smurf is thinking of where the two of us are going to live," Empath said. "If we're going to live together, we'll need to make a decision of where we'll settle down."
"I never thought of that before, Empath," Smurfette said. "I'm so used to smurfing in my house, I'm not sure what it would be like smurfing in another Smurf's house."
"Or even having somebody living in your house, Smurfette?" Empath said.
"Why would I have a Smurf smurfing in my house, Empath?" Smurfette asked, sounding as if she didn't that idea one bit.
"It's just a thought, Smurfette," Empath said. "In any case, it would be pretty difficult for us to be alone together if we don't have a single residence for ourselves."
"Your friend Polaris hasn't smurfed in his own house for years, Empath," Smurfette said. "Maybe it would be time to smurf him your house, and...I'll have to have Handy and a few other Smurfs do some smurf on my house, if that's where we're going to smurf together."
"And there's something that I was smurfing of as well," Papa Smurf said. "I know that you consider your fellow Smurfs as well as myself as your family, but all things considered, there aren't many female Smurfs besides Sassette and Nanny to smurf on your behalf for the wedding, so you're going to have to smurf up a list of female guests you would want to have as part of the wedding ceremony. You'll need a matron of honor as well as some bridesmaids."
"Flowerbell the woodnymph," Empath suggested. "She was there for Woody and Laconia's wedding. She could serve as the matron of honor."
"What about the Pussywillow Pixies?" Smurfette said. "I'm sure some of them would be great bridesmaids."
"Or even Laconia herself," Empath said. "And then there's Vanity's friend Periwinkle the pixie."
"I was thinking Marina, except that she's a mermaid and that she cannot smurf for very long outside of water," Smurfette said.
"Anyway, it does seem like you two are very sure that you're willing to smurf the risks of being married," Papa Smurf said.
"We've waited long enough for this time to come, Papa Smurf," Empath said. "Seeing Smurfette being happy with her wish finally coming true is worth whatever risks we may face along the way."
"And I don't want to smurf another day of Empath smurfing by himself anymore, Papa Smurf," Smurfette said. "If being married is what it smurfs for him to fully be a Smurf, then that's what I will give him."
"Then you might as well start smurfing preparations, my little Smurf and Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "I will tell the other Smurfs that the wedding will smurf place within a week. That should smurf them enough time to make sure everything is ready for that day."
"Oh, thank you, Papa Smurf!" Smurfette said, giving the village leader a kiss on the cheek.
"You won't regret this, Papa Smurf," Empath said.
"I'm only hoping that neither of you will, Empath," Papa Smurf said.
Meanwhile, the other Smurfs had their own little discussion about Empath and Smurfette's wedding announcement.
"This is the biggest moment in Smurf history, my fellow Smurfs, and I'm totally at a loss for words!" Brainy said. "What are we going to smurf about it?"
"What can we smurf about it, Brainy?" one Smurf said. "This is Empath Smurf whom Smurfette is going to marry. None of us can smurf a candle to him!"
"This just isn't fair," another Smurf said. "It's like the whole deck of cards is smurfed against us."
"Yeah," a third Smurf said. "We're just a bunch of normal Smurfs who love Smurfette, and Empath is like greater than any of us. Of course, Smurfette's going to choose him over us!"
"Well, I just have to say that I'm glad for the lucky lad," Duncan McSmurf said. "Smurfette's a fine young lass, and I'm sure Empath will smurf her life with happiness."
"And I would gladly smurf up my own happiness if it would make Smurfette happy," Tapper said.
"Let's face it, Smurfs," Poet said. "We can't smurf anything to get Empath or Smurfette to change their minds, so the only thing we can do to smurf our love for Smurfette is to do what Papa Smurf says and smurf her the best wedding. And if I'm going to smurf the best wedding poem for this wedding to smurf how much I love Smurfette, then that's what I'm going to smurf!"
"Les bonnes paroles, mon ami," Painter said. "And I will smurf her my greatest masteurpiesa."
"And I will smurf her my beautiful scents and flower arrangements," Vanity said.
"And I will smurf for her my greatest composition yet," Harmony said, briefly playing his horn.
Then more Smurfs made their voices known, stating that they will do their best to give Smurfette a happy wedding to show their love for her.
"It smurfs like we're going to need some organization if we're going to smurf with Empath and Smurfette on how to smurf together the perfect wedding," Brainy said. "So therefore, I, Brainy Smurf, designate myself as the head coordinator of all wedding preparations, unless any of you have any objections!"
"Oh, fine, Brainy Smurf, the job is yours!" Hefty said, sounding like he didn't want to be there at this particular meeting in the first place.
"Well, at least I have one Smurf who's willing to support my nomination for this role," Brainy said. "Any others?"
No other Smurfs said anything positive or negative.
"In that case, given the current response, it seems that the coordinator job is mine," Brainy said. "I will smurf with my brother Empath and with Smurfette, and I will let you know what exactly we'll need to do in order to properly prepare for this wedding. Until then, you are all dismissed."
As the other Smurfs went off in their own directions, Duncan McSmurf noticed Hefty's attitude. "What's wrong, laddie?" he asked. "You look like someone's smurfed out your innards and smurfed haggis with them!"
Hefty sighed. "It's nothing you really need to know about, Gutsy!"
"Fine, then, smurf it your way," Duncan said. "I just hope you'll be helping us with smurfing the heavy stuff before the ceremony smurfs. You'll be smurfing Smurfette how much you care for the lass!"
"Yeah, right, how much I care," Hefty growled.