The story took place about five years before Empath returned home for good. Early on a bright clear morning, Papa Smurf yawned as he awakened from his sleep and stepped outside his house for an announcement. "All right, my little Smurfs, gather round," he called out.
Every Smurf soon got out of bed and gathered around Papa Smurf's house fully dressed and ready to hear what the village leader had to say.
"Today we have work to smurf on the bridge, so I suggest that we all get started," Papa Smurf said. "And I'll be along to join you in a few minutes."
"All right, Smurfs, you heard what Papa Smurf said, so let's get smurfing," Hefty told the other Smurfs, who then went to get their tools and head for the Smurf River Bridge.
Lazy had just woken up and was at the window of his house looking at all the activity going on. "Come on, Lazy, we need to get smurfing on the bridge right away," Duncan said as he was passing by and seeing Lazy at the window.
"Smurfing, smurfing...always smurfing," Lazy sighed as he got dressed. "Why is it that I can never get a break from smurfing?"
Lazy was the last Smurf in the village to leave and head for the Smurf River Bridge, where he could see his fellow Smurfs already at work, including Smurfette, with all the jobs related to constructing the bridge: carrying and chopping tree sections into logs, tying them with rope as they are laid out on the suspension bridge. Lazy could see that there were enough Smurfs doing the job that they didn't need to have anymore help.
"Well, this certainly looks like a good time for a nap," Lazy said to himself as he started to sneak away from the work area. "Now I just need to smurf the right spot for..."
Then suddenly he walked straight into Papa Smurf. "Lazy Smurf, where do you think you're smurfing?" he asked somewhat sternly.
"Oh, hi there, Papa Smurf," Lazy said rather sheepishly. "You know, I was just going to, uh..."
"Get yourself to work right now like everyone else," Papa Smurf commanded. "I will not have you smurfing off while the others are smurfing the hard work."
"Uh, yes, Papa Smurf, right away," Lazy said before he went to join the others.
Tapper showed up with a pitcher of hot liquid and a coffee cup. "Some fresh acorn brew to smurf your morning off right, Papa Smurf?" Tapper offered.
"I could smurf a good cup of it right now, Tapper," Papa Smurf said, as Tapper poured the liquid into the cup and handed it to the village leader, who then took a sip. "These Smurfs are really starting to wear me out, particularly Lazy of all Smurfs."
"It's nothing that you haven't smurfed with before on many occasions, Papa Smurf, but I feel in my spirit that you're starting to reach the smurfing point," Tapper said. "Is there something I can do to help you relax?"
"No, Tapper, I am smurfectly fine," Papa Smurf said as he took a big swallow of the acorn brew and handed Tapper the empty cup. "It's nothing that a fresh cup of acorn brew can't fix, so if you'll excuse me, I have work to oversmurf."
Tapper sighed as he watched Papa Smurf walk off. "As you wish, Papa Smurf."
Papa Smurf then stopped and saw Hefty working with a pickaxe down in the gully of the river. "How's it smurfing along, Hefty?" Papa Smurf called out.
"Oh, just fine, Papa Smurf," Hefty answered back during a break in his routine. "Could you smurf me the shovel that's next to you?"
Papa Smurf saw the shovel lying on the ground and picked it up to toss it down to Hefty. "Here you go, Hefty," he said as he began to toss the shovel, but in mid-throw, the shovel returned to Papa Smurf's hands, as he could see there was pink sticky goo attached to the shovel that he couldn't get his hands free from.
"Ooooh, who the smurf was smurfing this shovel last?" Papa Smurf asked in an angry tone as he struggled to get his hands free.
"Oh, sorry, Papa Smurf, that was my shovel," Greedy said as he approached. "I was just so hungry this morning that I smurfed myself some muffins before I smurfed here to work. You know how much I don't like smurfing on an empty stomach."
"Yes, well, you could have smurfed your hands right after you've smurfed your muffins, Greedy," Papa Smurf said as Greedy pulled the shovel off the village leader's hands, leaving a bit of sticky residue.
"Just hope we have a smurfy lunch today, since I put Culinary in charge of smurfing up today's meal," Greedy said before he walked away with the shovel. Papa Smurf just rolled his eyes at Greedy's obsession with food, wondering when he's going to be less concerned with filling his face and stomach.
"Yoohoo, Papa Smurf," Smurfette called out. Papa Smurf looked and saw that she had painted the logs on the bridge a bright shade of coral pink. "Don't you think that it looks smurfy? I mixed the colors all by myself."
"With your eyes opened or closed?" Papa Smurf said as he looked in shock.
"Huh? What do you mean, Papa Smurf?" Smurfette asked.
But Papa Smurf wasn't looking at her when he said that. He was looking at Brainy, who was chopping up wood while not paying any attention to the fact that he was chopping next to the rope that was holding up the bridge.
"That's very funny, Papa Smurf," Brainy said as he turned his eyes away from the chopping. "I always say that Papa Smurf is a very funny Smurf indeed and..."
Suddenly Brainy cut the support rope with the axe, causing it to unravel. Papa Smurf watched in horror as the bridge itself fell apart and crashed into the bottom of the gully.
"Nice going, Brainy Smurf," Hefty said as he watched the bridge fall apart. "Why don't you look where you're smurfing when you're smurfing your job?"
"Really, Hefty, I had no idea that Papa Smurf was really smurfing about...," Brainy tried to explain.
Hefty didn't wait to hear the rest of it. He just picked Brainy up and flung him until he landed near the outskirts of the village.
"I really can't help it if I have to smurf astute observations of all the Smurfs in the village," Brainy groaned as he picked himself up from the landing.
Meanwhile, the other Smurfs watched as Papa Smurf stormed off into the forest, looking so mad that they feared the village leader was going to lose all control.
"Ooooh, my nerves can't smurf anymore of this!" Papa Smurf growled. "To think that I had to smurf up with this for the past 100 years of my life, and..."
Suddenly Papa Smurf found himself tripping over something and falling to the ground. He turned and saw that it was Lazy sleeping behind a rock instead of working, whom Papa Smurf had tripped over.
"LAZY SMURF!" Papa Smurf shouted, instantly waking Lazy up. "GO OUT INTO THE FOREST AND SMURF ME LOGS...LOTS OF LOGS...AND MOVE IT!!!"
Lazy quickly picked up his axe and headed straight into the forest, not wishing to be on the receiving end of Papa Smurf's wrath.
"Why can't these Smurfs be easier to live with?" Papa Smurf said angrily to himself. "They're driving me stark-raving smurfy!"
Lazy yawned as he looked around for a suitable tree that he can start chopping down to make logs with. He never liked seeing Papa Smurf getting angry over anything, even for what he would normally do. He could only wonder what had set Papa Smurf's anger off like a powder keg ready to explode on that particular morning, when it seemed like it was only years ago when Papa Smurf was just learning how to get along with 97 young Smurflings that were without parents that the village leader was always that angry.
Lazy soon forgot about those early years with Papa Smurf when he saw a tree that was the right size for him to begin chopping. "Well, here smurfs my very first log," he said to himself.
As he started to swing the axe to get the first tree chopped down, he at first didn't notice that there was a purple fly until it started circling around him rather annoyingly. "Shoo, fly, go away," he said to the fly to shoo it away.
But the fly refused to leave Lazy alone. It continued to circle around him, making it difficult for him to focus on his work.
"I said beat it! Scram! Buzz off!" Lazy said as he put down the axe and chased after the purple fly, hoping that it would scare him off, until he tripped on a root and fell down. The purple fly just circled overhead in a taunting manner.
Lazy became so angry that he picked up his axe and swung it around wildly, shouting, "WILL YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU SMURFY BUG?!?"
Suddenly Lazy saw that the purple fly had departed. He looked around to see where it might have gone, but there was no trace of the fly anywhere. "Finally, some smurf and quiet," Lazy said as he went back to the tree he was chopping.
But just as Lazy resumed his work on chopping down the tree, he could feel a sharp stinging pain in his tail, like something had bit him. He dropped his axe and turned to see that his tail was throbbing, and then saw the purple fly near him before it flew off. "That purple fly...it must have smurfed me," Lazy said to himself. "Now I need to smurf back to the village and..."
Lazy stopped as he felt himself getting dizzy. "What...what's happening to me?" he asked. He looked at his hands and noticed that they were turning purple, as was the rest of him.
Lazy couldn't think of what to do next, as a delirium swept through his brain and took control of him. His blue eyes turned pinkish-purple, and his teeth were gritted and exposed, as Lazy turned purple from head to toe.
"Gnap! Gnap gnap!" Lazy said before he hopped off.
Brainy returned to the bridge work site and was put on a different job since Papa Smurf didn't want him to be anywhere near the bridge doing any wood chopping. Weaver brought more rope from the village so they could start afresh on rebuilding the suspension bridge. Already the Smurfs could see that this was going to be a long job and that they might have to skip lunch, which would make Culinary so upset for having to put together a meal that nobody was going to eat.
Papa Smurf had been standing near the outskirts of the work area, looking into the forest with a sour look on his face. Tapper noticed this look on Papa Smurf's face and bravely asked, "Is there something the matter, Papa Smurf?"
"Lazy should have been back here with the logs by now, Tapper," Papa Smurf answered. "What in smurf is holding him up to make him smurf his sweet time smurfing back?"
"Surely he can't be smurfing on the job like he normally does, if having him smurf more logs is that important, Papa Smurf," Tapper said.
"Well, what would you expect from Lazy besides that, Tapper?" Brainy said as he overhead the two Smurfs talking while he was pushing the wheelbarrow. "He will never know how important it is for a Smurf to smurf a hard day's work if we keep letting him..."
"I don't want to hear it, Brainy!" Papa Smurf snapped. "I just want you to go out and find him right now!"
"Uh, yes, Papa Smurf, right away," Brainy said, as he dropped the wheelbarrow and rushed out to obey Papa Smurf's order.
"I'll go see if there's any other work that needs to be smurfed with the wheelbarrow, Papa Smurf," Tapper said as he picked up the wheelbarrow and pushed it in another direction, away from Papa Smurf. Whatever was going on in Papa Smurf's mind at that moment, he felt that the village leader needed some space for himself.
Duncan McSmurf joined Tapper as he headed back toward the bridge. "Papa looks ready to smurf the ears off some Smurf today, doesn't he?" Duncan asked.
"He certainly smurfs angrier than usual, my fellow Duncan, but since I can't smurf into his mind to figure out what's causing it like Empath can, I'm at a loss for what to smurf," Tapper said.
"Looks like this is something only this Almighty of yours can handle, if it's that bad with Papa, Tapper," Duncan said.
"Right now my concern is more with Lazy, and what's smurfing on with him that's making him not be able to return with his task smurfed," Tapper said. "I have a feeling in my spirit that something just isn't right with him."
"Unless he's been in the smurfnip again, laddie, I don't think this would be anything out of the ordinary for Lazy," Duncan said. "I bet that's probably where he is right now, smurfing those wonderful things he can smurf when he's that smurfed out on the herb."
Tapper sighed. "If only it were the case, then I wouldn't feel what I'm feeling about him right now, my friend."