Every culture, maybe every country, need legends. In the old Island of France, as Mauritius was then known, the legend of Paul and Virginie has long expressed, in a romantic way, the desire of another world. Maybe the insular paradise where the two lovers break down all the barriers that exist between them. The scene where the ship sinks is based on an event that happned in 1744. Two lovers died in the sinking of the Saint-Géran : Mrs Cailloux, a coloured woman, and M. Longchamps de Montendre, a ship officer.

Around 1726 they gave birth to Virginie and Paul. The two families are helped by a couple of negroes, Marie and Domingue and survive by farming the land. The two kids grow up as brother and sister. The two young mother and their children enjoy a simple life that seem to erase their unsavoury past. Paul and Virgine grow in harmony with nature , and their candid inocence protect them from any evil act or thought.

In 1738 an aunt of Mrs de la Tour sent a mail from France, but instead of the favourable news that Virginie's mother was expecting, she only got moral lessons and reproaches.

Paul and Virginie grow up, and there starts the unease of Virginie. She discovers that the nature of her feelings for Paul have changed. He had till then only been a brother with whom she could share her happiness and her games. She guesses that the tenderness she has for him is changing into love, and she imagine him as a mate and husband.

Paul has not yet understood the conflict that was haunting Virginie. She was running away from his innocent games, his work and the companionship of his loving family. She wandered here and there, in the most deserted places, trying to find rest, but finding none. Sometimes, on seeing Paul, she would go towards him then, suddenly, just before reaching him, she would suddenly feel emarassed; her pale cheeks would turn deep red, and her eyes would not dare stop on his. Paul would try to cheer her up and kiss her, but she would turn her head and run away towards her mother. The unfortunate girl was feeling troubled by the caress of her friend, who understood nothing at her new and strange quirks.

Once, a cyclone came and destroyed the crops. Virginie, seeing the devastation, said to Paul that everything he had were either killed or lost, and he had nothing left to give to her except his picture of St Paul. Barely had she spoken that he ran to his mother's house to give it to her. Virginie, touched by his action, swore that as long as she lived, she would never forget that act.

But a new danger appeared when the aunt of Mrs de la Tour wrote to her niece, asking her to send Virginie to her. The girl would, according to her, receive a good education, find a nice party at the court, and received all her wealth later. Mrs de la Tour was happy to hear of that piece of luck for her daughter, and tried to convince her to go to France. Then, finding out how painful it would be for her daughter to leave her, she was going to let go, but the governor of the island finally had her persuaded.

Virginie leaves the island without even a goodbye to Paul. The latter learns to write and read so as to communicate with his loved one. He then tried to learn geography to understand where she was going and what kind of society she was going to live in. Virginie, on her sie, is as much torn apart by this separation. She does not care about the money that her great-aunt wishes to leave her, and cannot adapt to the European lifestyle. For more than a year, the two lovers do not have any news of the other, as their mails were seized by the great-aunt. During that time, Paul reads novels depicting the libertine and dubious values of the Europeans, and fear that Virginie would end up corrupted by them and forget him.

In the end, Virginie manage to have a letter sent to her mother, who discovers how unhappy her daughter is in the city. The luxurious life, the title of Countess, the sumptuous dresses, the two maids at her call cannot relieve the pain of separation. When the great-aunt wants to marry Virginie, she prefers to be dishonoured and forced out of France, to be back with her beloved Paul.

On the voyage back, at the point of reaching her native island, the Saint-Géran is caught in a cyclone. The boat bringing her to Isle of France sinks before the very eyes of Paul. Rather than taking off her clothes and swim, Virginie prefers to drown before the eyes of Paul, who remained helpless on the shore.

His happiness lost forever, Paul dies under the weight of his pain, shortly followed in death by the mothers of the two youngsters.

Source: @ la lettre (in French)