Chapter Eleven: Papa Smurf Comes Home

The journey was arduous and took much longer than he'd originally thought. The Sandman didn't even recognize him at first. The Smurf had been so worried about the blind little Smurfling back at the village that he hadn't remembered to magically stop his beard growth, and he didn't care. The longer the bristles grew the less they bothered him until finally he forgot they was there all together. By the time the Sandman had remembered him and given him the Sleepy Sand he'd requested, it was half grown. By the time he finally returned to the village with his treasure, he had a full grown beard.

"Suits you, actually," said Smurf thoughtfully when he saw him.

"It makes me look silly," the younger Smurf objected. "As soon as this poor Smurfling's been seen to, I'm going to get rid of it."

The older Smurf shrugged. "Well, suit yourself. I think it makes you look kinda dignified."

Smurf laughed, unconvinced, then ran off to melt the fine Sleepy Sand down into glass.

The sparkling energy cloud that was Mnoollkk drifted over just as the last of the Sleepy Sand had been turned into clear, hard glass. The Smurf stepped aside as Mnoollkk surrounded and enveloped the glass, twisting it and forming it and altering it. Some minutes later, it rose into the air again. Smurf stepped forward to examine what it had done. Two small, flat, round lenses lay on the ground. They were held together by a sturdy frame of black metal. The Smurf smiled as he lifted them from the ground.

"Why, these are just like Brainy Smurf's glasses, from the future!" he exclaimed. "What a smurfy idea! If they worked for him, they'll probably work for this little Smurfling."

Mnoollkk rose slightly higher, then spoke. "The village for the remaining Smurfs has been completed," they said. "We are very sorry for all the deaths we have caused. Now our food shortage has been solved, we will make sure none of our kind ever preys upon Smurfs again. Nolk admits that Molk was correct. No one species is more deserving of life than another. We only hope you can accept our apology, though we know it will never replace those you have lost."

Before Smurf could say anything, Mnoollkk shot into the air like a bolt of blue lightening and was gone. Smurf looked after them for a few moments, unsure how to feel about either of them, then rushed at once to find the little blind Smurfling. He found him alone by a tree, feeling around for a block he'd lost track of. He seemed at the point of tears.

"Poor little Smurfling," Smurf said, lifting the baby into his arms. "These should help you find your blocks. And, anything else you might want to see."

Gently, he slipped the tiny pair of glasses over the baby's damaged eyes. The baby blinked up at him in surprise. Then, he looked around himself and clapped his little hands.

"Well, little one!" Smurf exclaimed happily. "It looks like these glasses are just what you needed. I wonder what Brainy would say if he saw you. He has glasses too, you know, and he's done very well with them. If it hadn't been for his glasses, none of us would be here right now. No, not even you."

The tiny Smurfling reached up and pulled playfully at Smurf's reddish-brown beard. "Papa!" he burbled with a huge, innocent smile.

"Well, youngin'," came the voice of the older Smurf from behind him. Smurf gave a start and turned to face him. The old Smurf was grinning broadly behind his trim, white beard. He had obviously taken the time to even out the ends while Smurf was away. "Looks like he knows you already."

Smurf's eyes widened with a sudden realization. He turned his astonished look to his older companion, who nodded. "Seems to me like you've finally gotten what you've always wanted, Papa Smurf," he said. "A family."

"Papa Smurf," he whispered to himself, hardly able to believe it. He looked down at the spectacled Smurfling. "And I've been telling you about Brainy," he said, "while all the time, he was you!"

The older Smurf smiled. "Isn't it amazing the way some things turn out?"

"Stay with us," said young Papa Smurf suddenly. "I've never done this before. I don't know the first thing about raising Smurflings!"

"What makes you think I know any more about it than you?" asked the older Smurf with a chuckle. "Don't worry, I'll smurf by from time to time to see how you're smurfing. Though, from what I've already seen, I'd say everything's going to smurf out just smurfily."

He held out his hand. The other Smurf shifted the weight of the spectacled baby he was holding and took it. The two Smurfs stayed that way for a few moments, expressing their friendship with the emotion their eyes and the pressure of their palms. Then, finally, the older Smurf broke away.

"See you around, Papa Smurf," he said, hoisting his rucksack up onto his back and taking up his sturdy hiking stick. Before he left, he turned to the baby in Papa Smurf's arms. The tiny Smurfling stared up at the older Smurf through his thick glasses with wide eyed interest. "And, I'll see you in a hundred years, Brainy Smurf."

The little Smurfling stretched out his tiny, blue hand and tweaked the older Smurf's nose. Papa Smurf laughed.

"Looks like he likes you. Are you sure you don't want to stay?"

The older Smurf shook his head. "Nope. It's the open road for me. It's for you to be the Papa. I'm satisfied to be more of a grandpa."

Papa Smurf smiled. "All right then, Grandpa Smurf. Smurfy travels."

"Thanks, youngin'. I'm sure they will be."

With one final look around the village and all the crawling, crying, laughing, inquisitive little Smurflings in it, Grandpa Smurf turned on his heel and marched away into the sunset. Papa Smurf watched him go, wondering suddenly if he was making the right decision, tying himself down for untold centuries to the extraordinary responsibility of raising one hundred young Smurfs. He thought back to his days of lone exploration, going and doing whatever he pleased whenever he wished without a thought to any others. Then, he looked down at the tiny Smurfling in his arms.

The spectacled infant had fallen asleep while he'd been musing. A tiny blue thumb was in his little mouth, which was curved up in the contented smile of happy dreams. Abruptly, all his doubts vanished. Surely, raising this village would be the greatest challenge, and the smurfiest adventure, anysmurf ever had. Papa Smurf smiled and turned his back on the road the older Smurf had taken.

He decided he'd keep the beard.

The Beginning