Return to Recap: The Smurfs.
Papa Smurf is having trouble getting his Smurfs to behave themselves after becoming divided over the issue of how the word "smurf" should be used in compounded words and phrases, so he enlists the aid of Gargamel to help him bring order to the village.
Tropes associated with this story include:
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: When Papa Smurf as Gargamel gets tied and staked down by his little Smurfs and tries to convince them that he's really Papa Smurf, one of his little Smurfs says, "And I'm Smurfette".
- Buffy Speak: After Papa Smurf near the end of the story forbids the use of compounded words and phrases in interpersonal conversations, this becomes the result.
- Civil War: A linguistic divide between the northern and southern halves of the village degenerates into actual war.
- Didn't Think This Through: Papa Smurf clearly hadn't thought about how the Smurfs may not believe him to be Papa Smurf after taking Gargamel's appearance, nor that allowing Gargamel to follow him to the village could seriously backfire on him and the other Smurfs. Sure enough not only the other Smurfs refuse to believe him after tying him, but Gargamel finds the formula on how to switch back their appearances and starts Smurf-hunting once he retrieves his true appearance.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: Papa Smurf and Gargamel switch appearances.
- Genghis Gambit: In order to reunite the warring Smurfs, Papa Smurf swaps bodies with Gargamel and attacks the village.
- Getting the Boot: Brainy when he argues against the border being in place, getting kicked to either side of the border by both the North and South Smurfs.
- Gone Horribly Right: Papa Smurf as Gargamel succeeds in getting his little Smurfs to stop fighting each other so that they could concentrate their efforts on their main nemesis, but after he is captured, none of the Smurfs believe that he is Papa. And Gargamel as Papa Smurf uses that to his advantage to transform himself and Papa Smurf back to their original appearances.
- How We Got Here: Much of the story is how Papa Smurf got to the point where he is waiting for Gargamel to return to his hovel.
- No Eye in Magic: Papa Smurf's retromimesis spell requires both him and the person he cast the spell on to lock eyes with each other.
- Separated by a Common Language: The Smurfs on the north and south sides of the village use the word "smurf" differently in compounded words and phrases.
- Serious Business: The different uses of the "smurf" lead to disagreements among the Smurfs. Smurfs then start to throw insults at one and another. Then it divides the village between North and South with border checks. It get worse from here and it leads to war between the North and South Smurfs. Even Papa Smurf can't stop the fighting.
- Show Within a Show: The Smurfs put on "Little Red Riding Smurf" (or "Little Red Smurfing Hood"), a play that gets beset with dialogue problems stemming from the North Smurfs and the South Smurfs all arguing over the use of the word "smurf" in compounded words and phrases (or however the language division is portrayed in non-English versions).
- Silly Reason for War: The North and South Smurfs get into a war over the use of the word "smurf" in compounded words and phrases, which is used as Peyo's criticism over the language divide in his home country of Belgium.
- This Is My Side: A Smurf paints a border between the North Smurfs and the South Smurfs, even painting it right through a Smurf's house. This results in the Smurf switching speaking patterns whenever he moves from one side of the house to the other.
