Smurfs/The Smurfs and the Money Tree

The Smurfs and the Money Tree
Season 1, Episode 39
Airdate	December 5, 1981
Written by
Directed by	George Gordon, Bob Hathcock, Carol Urbano, Rudy Zamora supervising director Ray Patterson
← 1x23B The Fake Smurf	1x16A → Haunted Smurfs
Smurfs — Season One

Painter and Poet is the thirty-ninth episode of the first season of Smurfs.

Gargamel's mother, Mummy, is introduced in this episode. When she realizes her son has not yet captured the Smurfs for good, she suggests trying to exploit a weakness in them – greed for money – to ensure an easy capture. Will one of the Smurfs fall for Mummy's trap?

Voices:

Plot Overview

It's very early morning, and Gargamel and Azrael are having sweet dreams, which means of course having captured the Smurfs once and for all, and are seconds away from feasting on their mortal enemies.

Literally an instant away from pouncing on the first of the Smurfs and beginning their slow, torturous deaths, there is a knock on the door. It's Gargamel's mother, Mummy, who has come to scold her son about everything, including never having actually captured the Smurfs. When she scours Gargamel's books to look for any ideas, she learns the Smurfs live a communal life, where they share everything and have no use for money. She figures that if one of the Smurfs has a speck of greediness in them, she and Gargamel can use it to their advantage and eventually capture the Smurfs once and for all.

The first step in the plan is casting a spell on an old dandelion and then causing it to drift to the Smurf Village. There, it lands outside Greedy's window and grows into a bush, with its fruit being gold coins, each with his face on it.

Greedy falls for the trap, unwrapping a foil-type covering from the coins to find a confectionery of some sort. Greedy is really impressed with how delicious it is that he immediately wants to share with his friends.

Until a red devil Smurf appears, suggesting to Greedy that he shouldn't have to share anything and that a famine could hit, leaving the Smurfs with no food. Greedy gives in to Devil Smurf's order and brings the bush inside, with no intention of sharing.

Once the wonderful scent from the bush spreads through the village, the other Smurfs see that the coins are some sort of candy and ask Greedy to share some. He begins to share, but Devil Smurf tells him not to, and Greedy changes his mind and declines to share.

Eventually, this causes him to lose his friends, and even if the other Smurfs give up their valued possessions to get at least a little taste of the coins. Devil Smurf tells Greedy that by doing things this way, he'll be the richest Smurf in the Smurf Village.

Things begin to change when Papa Smurf refuses to give up his possessions for one of the gold coin candies and walks away upset. The other Smurfs realize that their enjoyment of the candies was just temporary and now they have none of their prized possessions. They try to ask Greedy for their things back and Greedy is about to do so, but Devil Smurf once again has the stronger influence and Greedy declines.

Evenutually, Greedy sees what his greed has cost him – his friends, who are playing soccer with a pine cone – and realizes they are his greatest asset. As Greedy gives back everything to his friends, Papa Smurf deduces that Gargamel was likely up to this latest scheme, but as he declares this, he advises Greedy there is no spell or incantation available and the only way to deal with Devil Smurf is to continue to be generous and resist temptation.

In the end, Papa Smurf decides turnabout is fair play and returns the golden coin bush back to Gargamel. Sure enough, Gargamel and Mummy both get a whiff of the bush and its coins and begin fighting over the bush ... not realizing they've been foiled once again.

Greedy, meantime, declares he feels like the richest Smurf, thanks to his friends.