Part 8
Trader went out of his office to see what's going on, only to notice that all of the Smurfs have packed up their belongings and leaving the village. "Where are you all smurfing?" he asked.
"We're smurfing the road, and we're not smurfing back," one of the Smurfs said.
"We're smurfing a whole new village, which will be one that doesn't smurf on money or your 'new system'," another Smurf said. "We liked the old system of sharing much better."
"Smurf you later, Finance Smurf," a third Smurf said. "It was nice smurfing with you."
"Wait a minute, Smurfs," Trader cried out. "You can't do this! You all owe me money!"
"Here," one of the Smurfs said, tossing a handful of coins to Trader. "Smurf all the money you want." The other Smurfs also took all the coins out of their pockets and threw them at Trader's feet, leaving him with a good sized pile.
"We hope all that money will make you smurfy, because we surely don't want it anymore," another Smurf said.
"May I smurf a contribution to the funds that everybody else is smurfing?" Tapper said as he and Duncan passed by with their carrying packs. Both Smurfs emptied out their pockets of all the coins that they've been carrying. "And by the way, I wish to besmurf all my savings in the bank to you, my dear friend. May it smurf you whatever happiness that it may smurf in your future."
Duncan laughed as he and Tapper continued to walk on. "Feeling quite generous with your wealth, are you, laddie?"
"The Almighty's Son says that it's much easier for a camel to smurf through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter into heaven, Duncan," Tapper said. "All I'm doing is simply smurfing what His holy word says and smurf away all that I have so that I will smurf treasure in heaven...and that includes my tavern."
"Just smurf with us, brother, and you'll still be the richest Smurf," Duncan said as he and Tapper walked out of earshot of Trader.
Just then Papa Smurf passed by Trader, also carrying a small sack on a stick. "You're leaving, too?" Trader asked. "You're the village leader! Can't you smurf something about this?"
"I'm not the leader of this village anymore, Trader," Papa Smurf said. "From now on, everything in this village belongs to you. I can only hope that this will smurf you happiness."
Trader watched as Papa Smurf joined the others and sang the Smurf song on their way out into the forest.

La, la, la la la la, sing the smurfy song.
La, la, la la la la, smurf it all day long.
La, la, la la la la, a life with no money.
La, la, la la la la, smurfy as can be.
Caring for every Smurf
Is smurf more than all the gold.
Everyone is smurfier
To smurf the ways of old.
La, la, la la la la, now you know the tune,
La, la, la la la la, you'll be smurfing soon.

"After all that I have smurfed for them, even Papa Smurf...this is the thanks I get," Trader muttered as he walked away from the scene. And then he looked at the village and realized something. "Papa Smurf left me the entire village!"
This made Trader leap for joy and do cartwheels. "It's all mine! Everything is mine! I'm the richest Smurf in the world! I not only have all the money, I also have the entire village! This is the greatest collection I have ever smurfed! The houses, the shops, the bakery..."
And then he stopped at Biscotti's bakery and realized something else. "The bakery. It's nice that I finally own it as part of my collection. But the problem now is that I don't know how to smurf bread." He took a walk around the village and saw how quiet and how empty everything is. "There's no Smurf who will borrow, let alone any Smurf who will buy anything. What will I smurf with all this money?" He briefly sat down on a bench to think. "I could smurf a big party, but then who will celebrate with me? It just wouldn't smurf a whole lot of fun. There's not even a single Smurf that I can smurf to just to smurf how they're smurfing!"
Trader felt a tear forming in his eye as he continued to walk on. "What a drag this is! I finally own everything and there's nobody that I can at least share what I have with them! I feel so alone!" And then a thought came into his mind. "Wait a minute...there is somebody I can share it with."
He quickly ran out into the forest and met up with the traveling Smurfs. "Smurfs! Come back to the village! I'm too unhappy! Everything that I have, I'm now giving it all back to you!"
"Everything?" Hefty asked. "That includes our houses, right?"
"And all the things we smurfed for our debts?" Handy asked.
"Everything, I tell you," Trader said. "We can all smurf back to the old system of sharing."
"Well, I'll be smurfed," Papa Smurf said upon hearing this. "If that's the case, then there's no need for us to smurf a whole new village." He then told his little Smurfs that they were all heading back to the old village, which made them all cheer as they turned around and headed the opposite direction.
While on the way back, Papa Smurf had a private talk with Trader. "You see, Trader, money was smurfed by humans for humans, and things that are smurfy for humans are not all smurfy for us. We smurf our value into the well-smurfing of every Smurf, not just ourselves. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Papa Smurf, I think I do understand," Trader said somberly.
Smurfette looked really happy as she walked back to the village with Tapper and Duncan. "It will be so good to smurf back to my own home where smurfing doesn't have to cost a thing," she said.
"You smurfed it, lassie," Duncan said. "The humans can go smurf money if they want to, but they just don't know how good we smurf it out here where we smurf all things for free."
"I told you that this would all smurf out in the end, Smurfette," Tapper said. "You just have to have faith."
After they returned to the village, the Smurfs all looked at the pile of coins lying on the ground. "Now that this money doesn't smurf us anything, what do we smurf with them?" one of the Smurfs wondered.
Then Trader's eyes lit up with inspiration. "I think I have an idea. But I'm going to need Handy's help to smurf it."

And as Empath watched, the Smurfs held a celebration a few nights later with the band playing music. But the music wasn't being played with ordinary instruments -- or at least, with instruments made of normal metals. They were all made of gold.
"Smurfin' Begora, Trader," Miner said, smiling. "I can see that you've smurfed a better use for the gold."
"Well, the music smurfs much better with them," Trader said. "At least, they do with most of the musicians."
Miner laughed. "Harmony still couldn't smurf a better tune even with better instruments."
"Aye, that will still be his handicap, Miner," Tapper said, joining in the discussion. "But this is the true treasure every Smurf should hold dear in their hearts, for money and the things of the world will all smurf away someday, but family and friendships will smurf their value for a lifetime."
"And you don't have to smurf for a pot of gold to find it, either," Miner said, agreeing with Tapper.
"At the very least, for all the trouble money has smurfed us, I still have a souvenir as part of my collection," Trader said, showing the very first Smurf coin that was ever minted.

And at that moment, Empath was back in Trader's basement, holding the coin in his hand. He was astounded by the tale that the single coin had told him, with the help of Trader narrating it.
"Great Ancestors," Empath exclaimed. "You had the biggest collection of your entire hobby, and you wisely gave it all up because your friends and family were more important to you than your possessions."
"I always wanted to have the greatest collection of all, Empath," Trader said. "But in the end, having it all just wasn't worth it if I had to live alone with everything. Our friend Greedy learned this lesson years ago when he was smurfing these golden goodies outside his house and wouldn't smurf any of them away unless they smurfed something of value that they could trade for one of them. So now I'm happy with what I have, and if I lose everything I have in my collection, I can always smurf afresh with another one, because things can be replaced, but Smurfs and lives cannot be."
Empath continued to look at the coin one last time. "You know, this has given this smurf an idea of how Papa Smurf could be better immortalized...and with a little help from Handy, this smurf could turn that idea into a reality!"
"Oh, really?" Trader asked, sounding curious. "I wonder what you smurfed in mind for a better memorial of Papa Smurf."
"Like you said during that time ago, Trader, it's going to be a surprise," Empath said. "And it's one that this smurf is going to reveal at Papa Smurf's 550th birthday, which will be coming up soon."
"You think I can have it if Papa Smurf doesn't like it?" Trader asked.
"That's what you'll have to ask Papa Smurf, if he doesn't like the surprise this smurf will give him," Empath said.
Trader snickered. "I'm already thinking of smurfing it in my collection. Every Smurf will remember that it was given to Papa Smurf at his 550th smurfday, and they will be so jealous that I smurf this one-of-a-kind article because it was smurfed by one of my friends."
"Oh, so that's why we're friends," Empath said, looking at Trader with a smile of suspicion.