I'll try to include most of the main characters (at least those who are smurfs), but I confess I tend to favour my favourites, Handy and Hefty. If anyone has a request, send me a message. Any character that was not present in the smurfs' childhood will not be appearing, for example Smurfette and Gargamel. There are plenty of other wonderful stories on this site that include these characters, so if you want to read about characters like these, I suggest you check them out.

I do not own the smurfs, sadly.

Tales of Smurflinghood Episode 1: Fatherhood

In a little mushroom house, hidden away from human eyes, a small blue creature was pacing. Every so often he would glance out the window, checking the skies, then return to pacing. All he saw in the sky was the moon that had turned as blue as his skin. For a smurf like him, that meant only one thing—a baby smurfling was on the way.

That makes me the new Papa Smurf, the creature thought, stroking his reddish-brown beard nervously. And my Papa Smurf—is now Grandpa Smurf. That would be strange—he'd been called Alchemy Smurf for most of his life, ever since he had developed his gift for potion making. His Papa smurf had left long ago on his journey, and since he was the only smurfling of his generation, he had been the only smurf in the forest for over 100 years. This hadn't been a lonely life; he had had the animals of the forest, and Mother Nature and Father Time, and his few human friends. But he would be happy to have another smurf with him again, even if it was just a baby.

He tugged at the red hat on his head. When he realized he was now Papa Smurf, he had switched from white clothes to the red clothes that were a traditional mark of the leader of the smurfs. That was another thing that would take some getting used to.

Just then, the sound of flapping wings caught Papa Smurf's attention. He rushed to the window and stared up at the sky again. Finally, the sight he had been waiting to see—a stork, carrying a small basketthat dangled gently from its beak. He rushed outside just as the large bird touched down and lowered its burden carefully to the ground. It looked at Papa Smurf with one beady eye, and voiced a quiet croaking noise.

"Thank you," he told it. "I promise I will smurf good care of him." Nine times out of ten, smurflings were male. No one was quite sure why this was—it just happened that way. The bird stretched its wings, made the noise again, and flew off into the night. Its duty was done. Papa Smurf turned his attention to the smurfling.

It was awake. When Papa Smurf picked it up it cooed and gurgled, waving its miniature arms, almost knocking off the small hat it already wore. "Hello, little one," he told it softly. "I'm your Papa Smurf. This village will be your home now. I hope you like it here." The baby smiled and grabbed Papa Smurf's thumb. The older smurf laughed. "You're a strong little smurfling!" The baby laughed and waved his other arm enthusiastically. As he did so, Papa Smurf caught sight of something strange on the little smurfling's arm. It was a small drawing of a heart, with an arrow through it. Frowning, Papa Smurf checked the smurfling's other arm. There was an identical mark there.

Unusual birthmark, he thought. But it seems harmless. "Well, my little smurfling," he said out loud. "It's time I got you to bed. We'll have more time to get acquainted in the morning." He carried the smurfling into the crib he had set up in his house. The little smurfling wriggled—evidently it wasn't at all eager to go to sleep. "You're going to be an energetic smurf," Papa Smurf told him. "And a strong one too—I can see that already."

Just as the smurfling and Papa Smurf were settling down and dozing off, something unexpectedly jarred them both awake. The sound of flapping wings had come again. To Papa Smurf's relief, the little smurfling didn't start crying—if anything, it looked slightly annoyed at being woken up, if a baby could look annoyed. He gathered up the baby in his arms and headed back outside.

It was another stork, carrying another basket. It set down the basket and looked expectantly at Papa Smurf. "Another baby smurf?" he asked the large bird incredulously. The bird simply stretched its wings and flew off into the night. With some difficulty, since he already held the first baby, he scooped up the second. This one was a little quieter than the first, looking around him with wide, observant eyes. His hat was a little different that the traditional smurf hat—it had a visor in the front. Other than that, he was identical to the first baby, minus the heart markings. When he saw Papa Smurf, he smiled widely and waved at him. Papa Smurf smiled back.

"I can't say you were exactly expected, little one," he told him. "But you are just as welcome as my other little smurfling here." He carried both smurflings back into his house and lay the first one back in his crib. The second one he lay on his bed as he hurried to set up another crib. Thank smurfness Grandpa built so many of them! Papa Smurf thought. I wonder if he knew this would happen...The second smurfling watched attentively as Papa Smurf assembled the crib. The older smurf chuckled. This smurfling seemed interested in seeing how things were built—he might make a good carpenter or other sort of builder someday.

When Papa Smurf finished setting up the crib, he turned to see the second smurfling had switched to staring at something else, on the desk in the corner. Papa Smurf went over and picked up the object of the baby's attention—an unsharpened pencil. When he picked it up, the smurfling laughed excitedly and waved an arm at it. Papa Smurf brought the pencil over to him and showed it to the baby, who excitedly grabbed it. Papa Smurf was about to snatch it back, afraid the smurfling would choke on it, when he realized that the baby didn't have it anywhere near his mouth—he looked as though he was studying it, turning it over in his tiny, shockingly steady hands. Then, to Papa Smurf's bafflement and amusement, the baby tucked it behind his ear and settled back, sighing contentedly. Papa Smurf picked him up and settled him in the newly constructed crib.

"You're an unusual smurfling," he told him. "But then, so was I, and I like to think that I smurfed out alright." He blew out the candle he had lit and got into bed. In the glow of blue moonlight from the window, he watched the two smurflings. For a moment, the two of them didn't seem to realize the other was there. The first one tugged at one of the bars on the crib, the second pointed at a spot on the ceiling and cooed. Then, almost simultaneously, they saw each other. For a moment both smurflings fell silent. Then the first one yawned, and the second yawned back. The two of them giggled, smiled at each other and promptly fell asleep. Papa Smurf chuckled softly and yawned too. He just knew that these two would be good friends.

Before long, all three smurfs were sound asleep.

Little does Papa Smurf know, these two smurflings will not be the last....but you all knew that. Yes folks, you just met the baby versions of Handy and Hefty, in case you hadn't guessed. I just had to write about them first! More to come! Please review!