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"The Jewel Smurfer" (original French title Le Schtroumpfeur de Bijoux) is a comic book story developed and published by Studio Peyo. It was originally mostly available in non-English language formats. Papercutz has recently published the English translation on July 14, 2015.

Characters[]

Plot Summary[]

While the Smurfs are preparing for the Spring Equinox festival, Brainy and Jokey travel to the Ford Of The Merry Smurfer to find cattail stalks when Jokey slips on a rock, falls into the river, and is knocked unconscious. Brainy tries to revive Jokey but ends up leaving him when he hears human travelers coming up the road, unable to drag Jokey safely into hiding. The two humans, named Adhemar and Godilot, find Jokey and put him inside the cage with Godilot's pet mouse, taking him with them to the village of Abelagot. Brainy returns to the Smurf Village to warn Papa Smurf about Jokey's abduction, who then gathers some of his little Smurfs to help find Jokey.

Upon awakening, Jokey finds himself a prisoner of the two humans, who turn out to be traveling entertainers. In the village where they put on a show with the mouse as the intended star, the mouse was unable to perform, and the crowd booed the entertainers. Fortunately, Jokey appears on stage to save the performance, earning the show masters a lot of money in the process. His presence, however, doesn't go unnoticed by a shady character who talks with Adhemar about using Jokey to commit burglaries, threatening to kill the mouse if Jokey doesn't comply or tries to escape. In his first burglary attempt, Jokey brings back sarsaparilla leaves, and when he's told to bring back money, he tells them about the trouble money has brought to the Smurfs. Threatened again by the shady character, Jokey goes back into the house and manages to bring out ten gold coins and a small diamond. The two entertainers and the thief realize that Jokey would be more useful in taking jewelry and so has him dress in the manner of a thief so that he would be less visible. However, during his burglaries, Jokey would leave messages to his victims, apologizing to them and telling them he's doing it to save the life of a mouse.

Meanwhile, Papa Smurf and a few other Smurfs are busy first checking the town of Villers for Jokey's whereabouts when Grouchy almost gets eaten by a cow and Greedy almost gets caught by Gargamel, who is busy doing some shopping. Unable to find Jokey in Villers, the Smurfs hitch a ride on a cart to Abelagot and listen to the talk of some people in a tavern about the notes left behind by the mysterious Jewel Smurfer, which none of them can understand. Papa Smurf realizes from this and other information he has gathered that this must be Jokey Smurf, and that they need to find the entertainers who are holding him captive.

At night, during a burglary attempt at the usurer's place of business, Jokey discovers a young boy who is being held captive by both the usurer and an older man by the name of Ganelon. The boy is named Geoffrey, who is the son of the Duke Of Abelagot and is being held prisoner by Ganelon in order to extract a ransom from his father. Jokey escapes before Ganelon or the usurer find him.

At the hideout of the thief and the two entertainers, Papa Smurf and his group of Smurfs finally catch up with Jokey and try to free him from captivity, only to become prisoners themselves. They are then taken to the castle of the duke, where they are presented as performers that would distract the duke while they would also find out where the duke's treasure room is located so that the thief could get his hands on the treasure. While there, Papa Smurf is informed by Jokey about Geoffrey and Ganelon, and so the Smurfs work on a plan.

The following day, the Smurfs put on a theatrical piece with Brainy doing the narration about two people who were taken from their families. The duke and his seneschal notice something particularly familiar about the story of the piece, and even the thief begins to notice the familiarity of the characters in the story, realizing that the Smurfs were using the play to expose him and his plans. Eventually, the duke becomes so upset that he orders the theatrical piece to stop, demanding to know what's going on. Papa Smurf then shows up with Godilot to reveal that the theatrical piece was the Smurfs' way of fingering both the thief who was after the duke's treasure and Ganelon, the man pretending to be the duke's friend who was extorting him for money.

At that point, things really boil over as Ganelon tries to make a run for it. The thief captures Papa Smurf and forces the other Smurfs to lead him to the treasure room so that he could get his hands on the treasure. Instead, the Smurfs lead the thief on a wild-goose chase throughout the castle until he and Ganelon run into and collide with each other. Both men were put into the dungeon as Geoffrey was brought back safely to his father. Godilot was made the duke's protege with Adhemar as his servant. And the Smurfs were allowed to return safely home in time for the Spring Equinox festival.

Trivia[]

  • The story has composite elements of two cartoon show episodes: "Sideshow Smurfs", in which some Smurfs were captured by a mean show master and were forced to perform in order to earn him money, and "The Good, The Bad, And The Smurfy", where the captured Smurfs were forced to perform for a king in order for a wizard to distract him and turn him and his men into frogs while he steals his valuables. However, neither episode has the Smurfs stealing from anybody.
  • This story references the attempt to bring a monetary system into the Smurf Village in the comic book story "The Finance Smurf".
  • This is the first Smurfs comic story to be released since the death of Peyo in 1992, and probably the first to feature Hefty Smurf wearing a tattoo on his right arm in the comic book universe. (Although with the English publication of "The Finance Smurf" by Papercutz, Hefty's first appearance with the tattoo in the comic books was now there instead.)
  • Grouchy is referred to as "Grumpy Smurf" in the Papercutz translation of the book.
  • The idea of using a stage play to expose a criminal by re-enacting the story of his crime is taken from Shakespeare's play Hamlet.
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