Chapter Nine
The sun had just started to consider setting when the Smurfs were finally able to set out for home. Prince Theodore's people had taken the surprising truth about Xolynda rather well, all things considered. They were disappointed their Prince wouldn't be getting married, but after many years experience with Morlock's devious plots, it was easy to believe his sister would want to try the same thing. They were relieved Theodore had made such a lucky escape, and they cheered the four disguised Smurfs like heroes. The great feast, originally meant for the royal wedding, was used instead as a celebration banquet in honor of the four young people who had saved their beloved prince and their kingdom from the wicked Xolynda. The Smurfs had never felt so stuffed, or so admired.
When it was all over and the bodies of Morlock, Xolynda, and her pet snake had been properly disposed of and the unfortunate guard's body had been returned to his family along with the decorations of a national hero, the Smurfs bid their farewells to their friend Theodore.
"Thank you all again," called the prince as they crossed the drawbridge and set a course for the village. "You're welcome back here any time, of course!"
"Oh, we'll be back," smiled Smurfette. "You can smurf on it!"
The Smurfs walked through the fading daylight, quickening their pace as evening changed into night. They had to make it home before midnight, otherwise- They didn't want to think about the otherwise.
It was perhaps ten o'clock when the Smurfs reached the large clearing where Gargamel had his hovel. To their surprise, they could see Gargamel out and about, followed closely by his scrawny cat, Azrael.
"Let's go see what he's smurfing," whispered Hefty. "He'll never recognize us like this! It'll be fun!"
"Well, all right," said Brainy. "But remember Hefty, we've got to be back to the village before midnight, and that can't be too far off now."
"Oh, I will! Come on!"
Gargamel had strapped himself to a very strange looking contraption. As the disguised Smurfs approached, Gargamel was in the middle of explaining the odd device to his cat.
"...and this lever here is the ignition, Azrael," he cackled. "When I pull it, thusly," gave the lever a sharp tug, "The rocket boosters should ignite, flying me straight to the Smurf's village!"
Azrael seemed singularly unconvinced. As the strange device started sputtering and shuddering, he leapt away and climbed up a tree to safety.
As the Smurfs watched, the underside of the contraption burst into flames. Gargamel let out a triumphant shout as he shot into the air.
"Oh, my smurfness!" Smurfette exclaimed.
"I think he might have really done it this time," said Hefty apprehensively.
The Smurfs watched his progress a few moments more. As Gargamel flew higher and higher, Brainy's face cracked into a superior smirk.
"He's never going to make it to our village," he said confidently. "Just watch. In a few moments those flimsy rocket boosters will smurf out. Then, he'll fall right back to the ground."
"Gosh!" Clumsy exclaimed. "How do you know that, Brainy?"
"Because I read Papa Smurf's book on smurfodynamics a few days ago." He watched in satisfaction as the glowing embers that showed up Gargamel in the night sky sputtered, then failed, causing him to fall screaming back to earth. "Gargamel obviously hasn't," he smirked as the failed wizard splashed noisily into the murky pond at the front of his hovel. They could hear his curses from where they stood. Unable to help themselves, they burst out laughing.
"What's that?" called the miserable failure, "Who's there?"
"Gee, Gargamel, it looks to me like you need to work harder on your landings," Hefty laughed, running over to the bank of the scummy pond. The others soon caught up with him and helped pull the slime and mud-coated wizard from the pond. If Gargamel was the least bit grateful, he didn't show it.
"Just who do you think you are, trespassing over my land in the middle of the night?" He wiped a particularly slimy clump of mud from his long nose. "And how do you rotten kids know my name?"
The Smurfs stared at the scrawny, bent, balding wizard that had terrified their village for so long. He really wasn't all that tall. He didn't seem nearly as frightening or impressive when viewed from a human's point of view. Suddenly, Hefty thought of a really good trick he could play on their old enemy.
"Say, Gargamel," he said, nudging the others to get them to go along with him. "You're that wizard who's always on the look out for Smurfs, aren't you?"
"So?" the bent little man snapped. "What of it?"
"Well," Hefty grinned. "We know where their village is."
"What!" Gargamel exclaimed. "Tell me where it is, you stinking little son of a farmer! Tell me or else I'll-"
"Temper, temper, Gargamel," Brainy interrupted. "We'll tell you, but you have to be polite."
"Ooorph!" Gargamel growled, clenching his fists. "All right. Will you four kind, lovely young people please tell me where I can find the village of those wretched Smurfs!"
Clumsy chuckled. "Yeah, that's more like it, Gargamel," he said.
"Well," Hefty drawled. "All right. Since you asked so nicely." He took Gargamel by the muck-moistened shoulder and pointed in the exact opposite direction of the actual village. "It's down there a short ways. When you get to a large birch tree, turn left. The entrance to the village is through a rotten tree stump at the edge of a small clearing not far from there."
"You can't be serious!" Gargamel exclaimed. "Whenever the Smurfs have run away, they've always gone in the exact opposite direction!"
"Well, Gargamel," said Brainy in his best lecturing voice. "Just how dumb do you think Smurfs are? Of course they run in that direction! It's to throw you off the scent so you'll never find their actual village. I can just imagine how they'll laugh when they think of you searching for them tirelessly day after day at entirely the wrong end of the forest!"
The four Smurfs laughed. It really was a wonderful thought.
Gargamel was beside himself. "I don't believe I've been so stupid!" he exclaimed. "Isn't it just like those rotten Smurfs to trick me in this way! But, I'll get them! They can't hide from me forever! By this time tomorrow, I'll be having Smurf stew for supper!"
The Smurfs left Gargamel still cackling to himself.
"That was brilliant, Hefty, if I do say so myself," grinned Brainy.
"Um, Hefty," asked Smurfette, "just what is in that rotten stump at the edge of the clearing?"
Hefty chuckled. "A wasp's nest," he announced. "Nat found it a few days ago on one of his nature walks."
The thought of Gargamel being chased by an angry swarm of wasps was enough to keep the Smurfs laughing all the way to the village.
"Wow," Smurfette breathed as they stood at the edge of their village, admiring the way the tiny mushroom houses caught the glow of the moonlight. "Our mushroom houses really do look convincing from up here, don't they? No wonder Gargamel can never find us!"
"Shhh," Brainy hissed. "We don't want to wake up anysmurf. Only Papa Smurf, Farmer, and us know about your wish, Smurfette. If the others wake up, they'll be scared out of their smurf to see four humans wandering about! Quick, let's make our way around the village to Farmer's fields. And remember, be quiet!"
When they got to Farmer's melon patch, they were greeted by a very loud, very frightened yell.
"Aaagghh! Papa Smurf! There are four great humans smurfin' this way!"
The four disguised Smurfs shared a grin. It was Farmer's voice.
"Calm down, Farmer! They can only be Brainy, Hefty, and Clumsy. Four, you say? Why, that must mean they've found Smurfette! Oh, thank smurfness!"
"Papa Smurf!" the four enchanted Smurfs exclaimed happily. The tiny, red-suited Smurf with the fluffy white beard smiled up at them from out of the melon patch.
"Hello, my little Smurfs!" he called up at them. "You're just in time!"
The four of them sat down as carefully as they could. They didn't want to squash any of Farmer's prized melons.
"Here's Gourdy's gourd, Smurfette," said Papa Smurf, holding the tiny vegetable up to her. "All you have to do to regain your own smurfy form is to rub it gently and say 'I wish to be a Smurf again.'"
Smurfette took the gourd gently from Papa Smurf's outstretched arms. It was barely the length of her palm. Brainy sighed from beside her.
"You know, now that this is all almost over, there's only one thing that still bothers me."
"What's that, Brainy?" asked Papa Smurf, recognizing him at once because of his glasses.
"Well, I know this may sound silly, Papa Smurf," he said, "but I did want to see what I looked like as a human before I get smurfed back into a Smurf. It's been more than a day, and the only mirror we smurfed across was enchanted so it would only show the truth!"
Papa Smurf chuckled. "I don't think that's so silly, Brainy," he said. "In fact, it's quite natural. We've got about half an hour yet. I could run to the village and smurf you one of Vanity's mirrors."
"Wait, Papa Smurf," said Smurfette. "I've got a smurfy mirror right here. And, it's just our size, too." She pulled out the intricately carved silver mirror she'd used to daze Xolynda's evil pet snake and handed it over to Brainy. "I completely forgot about this until just now," she said. "I thought you might want to use it."
"Here, Brainy," said Farmer, holding up a little lantern. "You can use my firefly lantern."
"Thanks, Farmer," said Brainy, carefully taking it.
"Oh my smurfness!" he exclaimed, lowering the mirror to his lap and reaching up to touch his hair. "My hair really is red, isn't it!"
"Let me see, Brainy," said Hefty. Brainy handed him the mirror and the lantern. "Papa Smurf," he asked. "What's going to happen to that mirror once we've smurfed back to our normal size?"
"Oh, can you shrink it, Papa Smurf," asked Smurfette. "It was a present from a very nice girl I met at Theodore's castle. And, it is ever so smurfy."
Papa Smurf looked at the mirror, which was now in Clumsy's uncertain hands, thoughtfully. "Hmmm," he said. "I'll see what I can do in the morning. I'm sure I could work out a smurfy shrinking spell for you."
"Oh, thank you, Papa Smurf," Smurfette grinned.
"May I assist you, Papa Smurf?" Brainy asked eagerly.
"Well, I think that would be all right."
"Thank you, Papa Smurf!" Brainy exclaimed, his eyes shining behind his glasses.
"Oh, that reminds me," said Hefty, reaching into the pocket of his peasant shirt and pulling out the certificate and medal Prince Theodore had given him. Brainy and Clumsy pulled theirs out as well. "Prince Theodore gave these to Brainy, Clumsy, and me back when he thought we were humans. Do you think you could shrink them too, Papa Smurf?"
The three Smurfs placed their awards on the ground. Papa Smurf laughed when he saw the names. "Harold, Brian, and Clement Smith," he chuckled. "That's very clever, my little Smurfs. Yes, I believe I can shrink these down for you. They should be very smurfy momentos of your adventure."
Taking her mirror back from Clumsy and laying it carefully on the ground beside their awards, Smurfette finally rubbed Gourdy's gourd. The tiny genie appeared in a puff of pinkish smoke, stretching and yawning and dressed in his nightclothes.
"Oh, my!" he exclaimed when he realized he was sitting on the outstretched palm of a human girl. "Who in the world are you?"
Papa Smurf called up to him. "That's Smurfette, Gourdy. She has a wish to ask of you."
Gourdy beamed. "Well then, ask away! That's what I'm here for!"
Smurfette nodded. "All right. Gourdy, I wish to be a Smurf again."
"Can do, Smurfette," the tiny genie grinned. "You're just in time!"
He raised his thin little arms and wiggled his fingers. "Cadoda, casaba," he intoned cheerfully. A bright flash emitted from his fingertips, completely enveloping Smurfette. He grabbed his gourd and jumped to the ground a split second before the flash around Smurfette shrank down to Smurf size. When it faded, Smurfette stood before them, her old smurfy self again, blinking in the moonlight.
"Oh, Papa Smurf," she cried, rushing to him and enveloping him in a hearty embrace. "I'll never make such an unsmurfy wish ever again! Never, never, never!"
"It's very smurfy to hear you say that, Smurfette," said Papa Smurf with a warm smile. "I trust you've learned your lesson?"
"Oh, yes, Papa Smurf! And, I just can't wait to tell you all about our adventures at Theodore's castle!"
"And I can't wait to see my tail again," said Brainy, rather bitterly. "Papa Smurf, how much longer will it take before we get smurfed back into Smurfs? I'm tired of being a human."
"Not long, Brainy," said Papa Smurf with a smile. "I'd say the spell will be wearing off right about-"
There was a loud popping sound and suddenly, three blinking Smurfs were standing where the three young humans had been.
"-now!" he finished.
Checking themselves over carefully, just to be sure they really were back to normal, the three Smurfs let out a delighted cheer.
"It's wonderful to have you all back home safely, my little Smurfs," said Papa Smurf warmly.
"It's wonderful to be back, Papa Smurf," Brainy said. "You won't believe all we've smurfed through in the past two days. All I can say is, it's good to be back to my old, smurfy self again."
"You said it," said Hefty, flexing his muscles. Clumsy nodded vigorously.
"Well, if I'm not needed anymore," said Gourdy with a yawn, "I think I'll go back to bed. Casaba, cadoda!" The little genie vanished instantly in a puff of pinkish smoke.
Farmer stifled his own yawn. "I'd say it's about time for me to turn in as well," he said sleepily. "Good night, everysmurf. Nice to have you all back with us."
"Good night, Farmer," the remaining Smurfs chorused.
"Come along now, my little Smurfs," Papa Smurf said once Farmer's door had closed. "You can tell me all about your adventures on the way back to the village. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Greedy baked a batch of smurfberry cookies this evening before he went to bed. You four look like you're in need of a treat after all you've been through. I'm sure Greedy won't miss four or five."
"Hooray!" the Smurfs cheered.
Turning their backs on the melon patch where Smurfette's silver mirror still lay gleaming in the moonlight beside Hefty, Brainy, and Clumsy's citations, Farmer's melons, and Gourdy's gourd, the small group of Smurfs headed cheerfully back to their cozy village, laughing and chattering all the way.
The End