"The Smurf Who Couldn't Say No" is a Season 2 episode from the Smurfs cartoon show.
Characters
- Pushover Smurf
- Scaredy Smurf
- Papa Smurf
- Smurfette
- Hefty Smurf
- Brainy Smurf
- Handy Smurf
- Greedy Smurf
- Lazy Smurf
- Marsh Monster
- Tracker Smurf
- Vanity Smurf
- Clumsy Smurf
- Grouchy Smurf
- Jokey Smurf
- Harmony Smurf
- Farmer Smurf
- Sloppy Smurf
- Unnamed Smurfs
Synopsis
Scaredy is chosen to travel to the Great Swamp to get the Foxfire Flame, but he's too afraid to go, so he asks Pushover, who never says no, to do it instead of him.
Plot Summary
Pushover hates favors!
The Smurfs are busy doing preparation work at the beginning of the story, with cleaning and some construction work going on. Grouchy grumbles that he hates sweeping as Smurfette approaches him, saying that she can't wait for the big Firefly Festival to take place, which Grouchy says he hates. Inside the mill, Brainy and Lazy are hard at work doing grinding, with Lazy saying that he needs to take a break. Brainy says that he needs to take a break as well, and that he knows just the right Smurf to ask for taking over the job.
Brainy and Clumsy gather outside Pushover's house to butter him up by asking about the weather before Brainy pulls out a list of things that he would like done. Pushover rolls his eyes, wishing Brainy could stop talking, and also knows that as usual he would get put upon to do tasks he would rather not do but couldn't say no to doing. And so inside the mill, Pushover sings his situation of being unable to say no as he turns the grinding wheel. Then Hefty shows up to ask Pushover a favor of carting a pile of rocks in a wheelbarrow over to Handy. Pushover sarcastically asks if there's anything else Hefty wanted of him, and Hefty asks for a glass of sarsaparilla juice.
Pushover then delivers the pile of rocks over to Handy, Tracker, and Farmer, when Tracker and Farmer decide to take a lunch break and Handy decides to take a swim in the river, leaving Pushover to do all their work for them. However, when Papa Smurf shows up to inspect the work for the Firefly Festival, the lunching Smurfs quickly return to their duties to make it look like they've been busy all along doing the preparations. Pleased with the result, Papa Smurf says that they'll be ready in time for the Foxfire Lottery before he departs whistling the Smurf song. Soon Pushover is left alone again to do the work when he gets slowly bombarded by requests from his fellow Smurfs who were all asking him for favors done. Finally, he shouts out a big "OKAY!" to silence them, leaving some Smurfs like Vanity dumbfounded, wondering what's eating Pushover.
That night, as the Firefly Festival gets underway, the Smurfs are busy dancing and having a good time to the music being played by a few Smurfs on stage (with Harmony briefly cutting in). However, Papa Smurf notices that Pushover looks too exhausted to join in the festivities and asks him what's wrong. Pushover tries to tell Papa Smurf that his fellow Smurfs have been using him to do the work they should have been doing, but Brainy calls the village leader's attention away from Pushover's problems, which makes Pushover angry enough to say "Fiddlesmurfs!"
Papa Smurf then tells all his little Smurfs about the Foxfire Lottery, that the winner of the lottery will be given the task of going into the Great Swamp to capture the sacred Foxfire Flame with which they can light the Firefly Lantern to conclude the festival. However, Papa Smurf warns that whoever is selected to be the Foxfire Smurf must be careful not to put out the flame. Soon all the Smurfs gathered around the stage pick a smurfberry from the basket, with Scaredy Smurf picking the green one, which makes him the winner of the lottery. This makes the other Smurfs cheer, but it makes Scaredy fearful of the task that was now put upon him.
Scaredy asking Pushover to help him.
The following day, in which Scaredy is supposed to set off on his trek to the Great Swamp, he pays a visit to Pushover and asks him for the favor of being the one who will take his place in traveling to the swamp. Soon Pushover takes off with the torch that will be used for lighting it with the Foxfire, telling himself that this will be the last time he will do any favors for anyone. As he travels through the Great Swamp, avoiding its various obstacles, he sees the bright glow of the Foxfire up ahead and proceeds to light the torch, but as he heads out of the murky pond where he found the Foxfire, he knocks over a pile of rocks, one of which puts out the Foxfire. Pushover becomes fearful of what he has done, but before he could do anything about it, a hideous bearded monster emerges from the muck, muttering "Cursed he who kills my flame, cursed he who gives me pain." before chasing after Pushover, who flees from the swamp.
Back in the village, the Smurfs are waiting for Scaredy to return with the Foxfire so that they can conclude the Firefly Festival, hoping that he would return before dark. However, Scaredy is hiding away inside Pushover's house hoping that Pushover would return soon but becomes fearful that something terrible has happened to him and so goes out of the house to find him. That's when Papa Smurf spots him, thinking that he has returned with the Foxfire, and asking if he was careful not to put out the Foxfire. Scaredy asks what would happen if it was put out, and Papa Smurf answers that it would have awakened the Marsh Monster.
Hoping that Pushover didn't awaken the creature, Scaredy sets off into the Great Swamp to find him. In the swamp he hears a cry for help, and sees that Pushover is sinking in quicksand and pulls him out just in time. Pushover says that they need to get out of the swamp before the Marsh Monster gets them, and just as he says it, the monster appears to get the two Smurfs running for their lives, not to mention a group of animals.
Back in the village, Brainy tells Papa Smurf that the Smurfs are all ready for the parade, but they can't find the Foxfire torch. Papa Smurf suspects something is wrong, and the Smurfs are getting angry because it's getting late. Papa Smurf asks if they have seen Scaredy, and Smurfette says she's seen him at Pushover's house. The village leader then checks to see if Pushover is home, but then he and his little Smurfs hear Pushover and Scaredy approaching the village bringing trouble along with them. Papa Smurf sees that it's the Marsh Monster who has been awakened and tells his little Smurfs to evacuate the village. After they leave, Papa Smurf meets up with Scaredy and Pushover and finds out that Pushover was responsible for putting out the Foxfire. He tells the two Smurfs that one of them must now go back into the swamp to relight the flame, with Pushover electing to do the honors until Scaredy decides to own up to his failure of doing the task himself and says he will go with Pushover. Papa Smurf then hands the two Smurfs a scroll which they should read in times of need and reminds them before they set off that it's all right to be afraid sometimes -- a piece of advice that repeats over and over in song as they head back into danger.
As the Smurfs still in the vicinity of the village wonder where the Marsh Monster has gone, he is now chasing after Scaredy and Pushover, moving rather slowly as they reach the spot to relight the Foxfire. However, he catches up with them, which makes Scaredy use the scroll and recite its words to calm the creature so that he will not harm them and will peacefully return to the muck. Then the two Smurfs argue over who's going to relight the fire, with Pushover being so adamant that he wins out over Scaredy's objections, and so Scaredy does the honors. With that job done, they quickly head back to the village so that they could conclude the Firefly Festival.
Back in the village, the Smurfs are wondering where Pushover and Scaredy are, as Papa Smurf notes that the moon will be reaching its zenith soon, when they hear their voices and see the glowing Foxfire Flame. They cheer and start up the music as they carry the two Smurfs toward the Firefly Lantern so that they can light it. As the Smurfs cheer and dance, Jokey scares Scaredy with a mask, causing the fearful Smurf to chase after him. Jokey asks Pushover if he would help him, but Pushover flatly refuses, telling Jokey to solve his own problems.
"Do your own work for a change, Hefty... the answer is NO!"
The following morning, Papa Smurf wakes every Smurf up for the post-festival cleanup. As Pushover awakens from his house, Brainy is already there bothering him to do a favor, and Pushover flings Brainy away with his trash bucket landing on him. Hefty comes over to ask Pushover a favor, but Pushover knocks over the wheelbarrow of rocks onto Hefty, telling his friend that nobody's going to make him a pushover anymore. From that point, he continues to tell his fellow Smurfs NO when they attempt to ask him for favors. However, when he comes over to Smurfette and tells her whatever she's asking him to do, that the answer is no, Smurfette walks away disgusted, saying that she simply wanted to invite him over for lunch. Pushover realizes that for such a request like that, he could be a pushover again.
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