"That's really sad, Trader," Empath said as he continued to
watch the whole thing. "Your fellow Smurfs want to have a party
just to celebrate a rescue from Gargamel, and all you could
really think about is just how much a party would cost."
"I didn't like it all that much either, Empath," Trader said.
"Neither did I like having to smurf with the fact that Papa
Smurf doesn't have a laboratory to smurf his work in. I guess I
was just too blinded by money to really see any of this
smurfing."
Empath watched as Papa Smurf talked to Handy about rebuilding
his laboratory as they looked at it from a distance. "I'd love
to help you out, Papa Smurf, but it's going to cost you
smurfly," Handy said.
"That's not a problem, Handy...I do have the money," Papa Smurf
said, sounding confident at first. But then a thought came into
his mind. "However...have I not paid Smurfette for smurfing care
of me when I was sick? And a few other Smurfs as well?" He then
turned to Handy. "I'll have to smurf care of these small
problems first, and then with what I have left over, I'll see
what I can smurf."
And so Empath watched as Papa Smurf paid off his debts to the
Smurfs who took care of him during his illness: Greedy for the
food, Medic and Smurfette for the medical care, Smurfette again
for taking care of Baby Smurf. They were happy to finally get
reimbursed. However, after those Smurfs have left with their
pay, Papa Smurf realized that he had now ran out of money as he
shook the money bag and nothing came out.
Trader watched this as he passed by the window of Papa Smurf's
spare house. "So much for smurfing a new laboratory," the
village leader said, sighing.
"Maybe I can help you out with your problem, Papa Smurf,"
Trader said. "Here's the solution: I can finance the work, and
you smurf me a percentage of what you ask the other Smurfs for
your services. What do you think of that?"
Papa Smurf didn't like the sound of that solution one bit.
"ME...CHARGE MY LITTLE SMURFS? NOT ON YOUR SMURF, TRADER!" he
shouted as he banged his fists on the window sill.
Trader backed away fearfully. "Okay, then, smurf it your
way...I'm just trying to help!"
Papa Smurf decided that his new laboratory will have to wait,
and that he will take a walk through the village to see how
things are faring. During his walk, he saw Trader turning down
Vanity for money when he had nothing left that he could use as
collateral for a loan. He saw one Smurf charging another Smurf
money for the simple "favor" of moving a table into that Smurf's
house. He saw Lazy pacing around inside his house, unable to get
any sleep as he now worried about how he was going to pay back a
loan. He saw Poet working on a poem about money, calling upon it
to "smurf upon us and see the despair it has sown". He saw a
Smurf walk away disgusted from having to pay for flowers he
wanted to send to Smurfette. He saw two Smurfs fighting with
each other and calling each other horrible names. To Papa Smurf
and to Empath, things in the village have not been going well at
all.
Papa Smurf sat down on a bench in order to think. Then
Smurfette showed up with a glass of his medication. "You need to
smurf this," she instructed.
"Oh, thank you, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said as he took the
glass and drank its contents. "How much do I smurf you for
this?"
"Nothing, Papa Smurf, as it should be," Smurfette said as she
sat down near Papa Smurf. "Have you smurfed what's going on
around here? Everywhere in this village, it's money for this and
money for that. Things have gotten impossible around here with
this 'new system'."
"I have noticed it, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "It just makes
me sad to think that this is what money has smurfed on us."
Then Tapper and Duncan joined Papa Smurf and Smurfette. "The good book
says that the love of money is the smurf of all evil, and that
those who are greedy for it have fallen from the faith and have smurfed themselves through with
many sorrows," Tapper said.
"Tapper, what happened to your business?" Smurfette asked.
"I had to close it down, Smurfette, because I didn't like
having to smurf my customers for money, especially when they
smurf to the tavern whenever they're down on their luck," Tapper
said. "I was prosperous for a time, and I was even generous to
those who needed some money to make smurfs meet. But this whole
thing of smurfing money for everything that we normally had
smurfed for free just never smurfed right to me from the very
beginning. Our village is a family, and I can't think of
smurfing my own family for things that I would smurf from my
very heart."
"We've got to smurf something about it," Smurfette said. "I
don't like seeing where all this is smurfing us to."
"Neither do I, Smurfette," Papa Smurf said. "If money ruined
the lives of humans, it can smurftainly ruin us as well."
"I just know in my spirit that things will all smurf out in
good time," Tapper said to both Papa Smurf and Smurfette.
"Eventually the other Smurfs will see the light when it smurfs
to money."
"Let's just hope that it is soon, laddies," Duncan said.
Some days later, Nosey and Chatty were gathered with Trader near a
newly-constructed Smurf building, fawning him with attention and
praise, which they both resorted to doing in order to curry favor with Trader.
"So is everything going as you smurf, Finance Smurf?" Nosey asked.
"Well, what can I say? The new system works!" Trader said. "How
do you like my new office?"
"Why, it's majestic," Chatty responded. "Just as majestic as
you are."
"Our money must surely be smurfed in a safe place," Nosey said in the same obsequious manner as Chatty. "And this
is the place where it will be smurfed safe."
"Yeah, really safe," Hefty muttered as he passed by the
builiding and looked at it in disgust. "But then, he knows what
he can go smurf with his money."
He then went into his own house. Some minutes later, he came
back out carrying a small sack on a stick. "Hey, Hefty, where
are you smurfing with that?" Handy asked as he saw Hefty with
his sack.
"What does it look like I'm smurfing?" Hefty answered. "I'm
leaving the village."
"You are?" Handy asked. "But why?"
"Because I'm sick of this 'new system'," Hefty snapped. "I'm
smurfed up with money, I'm smurfed up with this crazy life we're
smurfing. Nobody sings, nobody dances anymore. It's all about
money! Well, they can smurf it, because I'm smurfing elsewhere."
"Wait a minute, Hefty," Handy said as he watched Hefty start
off again. "If you're leaving the village, then I'm leaving
too!"
"You want to leave?" Hefty asked. "But I thought you were happy
smurfing things for money now!"
"Well, I thought I was," Handy said. "But the more I think
about it, the more I felt that I was happier smurfing things
when I didn't have to think about money. I want to smurf things
back to the way they used to be."
"You're in luck, Handy, because where I'm smurfing, there won't
be any need for money!" Hefty said.
This caught the attention of a few Smurfs who were just
overhearing the conversation. "You're going to smurf to a place
where there won't be any money?" one of the Smurfs asked.
"That's right, and me and Hefty are going to build it
together," Handy announced.
"So if you want to smurf to a place where the only thing you
need is hard work, or even if you don't want to work, now's your
chance," Hefty said.
This made the other Smurfs cheer with excitement. "NO MORE
MONEY! NO MORE MONEY! NO MORE MONEY!"
"Let's smurf our things and get the smurf out of here," another
Smurf said. And so all the Smurfs went to their houses to pack
their belongings.
Papa Smurf just came onto the scene. "What's this that I'm
smurfing here?" he asked.
"We're going to smurf a whole new village, Papa Smurf, and it
will be one where you won't need any money," Handy said.
"Why don't you smurf along with us?" Hefty said. "After all,
this new village is going to need a leader, and the only Smurf
around here qualified to be that leader is you."
Papa Smurf chuckled at the thought. "Well, why didn't you smurf
so?"