The Tale of Two Purple Eyes

Themed in 1765

Jinyao DeSandies

On the 24th of February, 1765, In the lookout of Dourdan, Isle de France, a group

of scrawny men stand. Their once white clothes scru y, tainted and raggedy, formation

bewildering, and their eyes, The purest white one can see in the world. In the middle of

the mob, you see a man in a robe. He has blue eyes. The eyes remind you of the purity of

the north sea, and they seem to be a window to his ever-knowing soul. Next to him, a

young man stands. He stands out because unlike others, has eyes of purple, and hair

blonde. Abbé, where do we head? He says to the man with blue eyes. “To The versailles,

Morrell. We will earn back all that has been owed to us.” He rallies the group of people, as

they begin their day long walk to the land of the noble. They understand what awaits

them is most likely death. They have been warned time and time again. They did not

hesitate, they will not hesitate. It is not just that they fear death, but some think that is

what they seek, after all that they have been through. As they walk out of the village,

women and children, mostly even more malnourished, weep as they watch the men in

their house leave to what most assume as what they believe to be an impossible task.

They walk in single le, through a trail many would only pass with the most

enduring horse-drawn-carriage. Two men die as they trudge through the mud, three more

as they ford the Seine. Step by step, arpent by arpent, they walk to versailles palace.

“One more mountain, loyal believers!” The man with blue eyes exclaim. Nearly no reaction

has been made. They just keep on walking. Morrell begins considering his conversation

with his mother. “This is exactly what happened to your father.” She said. “Even if we are

starving, this is way too dangerous.” “What if she is right?” He thinks. “Without me, there

is no way her and my sister can survive.” Then he remembers the sight of his pantry that
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 entailed a void that only be outmatched by the elds outside. He understands that this is

the only way. He walks again, step by step, arpent by arpent.

They arrive by a castle. It is near dawn here. Lights so bright only the fattiest oil

can glare shoot out of 100s of beautiful windows shines upon them as they walk to the

grand wooden door. The castle is laid with white trimmed bricks and topped by a black

slate roof. The top of the structure consists of a tower completely made of bronze and

glass. These men are aghast by the beauty and elegance of this beautiful castle. As they

approach the door, a phalanx of men, all in blue and purple stripped clothing, come to

address this group of people. most of them wear blue beanies, but one short man in the

center of a group wears a blue and golden beret. They ask, “What do you come for?” “We

are the good people of Dourdan. We work all day, everyday. We are loyal to the king, and

we are loyal to our lord. But We cannot live. This year we have experienced a drought and

a ood. Bandits came to raid our village to nd that rats have ate all of what food was left.

We have given up our rights as property owners and all of our valuables to pay as tax last

year, and we are now penniless and starving. That is of the most importance. Half of the

men of dourdan, Down to the age of ten and up to the age of 40, have been drafted away

to ght in Russia. They have never returned. Women and children are now also working in

the farms, as many acres of land lay waste. That is of the second most. Many of the men

and women left are still infected with the yellow fever, and now lay in bed as god decides

whether they starve or sick to death rst. I was once the town priest of a chiliad, but when

bringing all men that could walk to this beautiful place of our lords, we are left with 50.

After all that we have been through, we only ask that the lord provide us some essential

food so we can prepare for the winter instead of all dying Is that remotely possible?.” The

man with the blue eyes said. He has clearly been thinking about what to say for a very

long time. The response he received was a simple ”No.”. Unrest begins in the mob, until

the men in blue and purple stripes point their muskets at them and yells “Leave, or you
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 will be punished!” They have clearly been trained for this exact scenario. Morrell will not

take no for an answer. He stands in front and yells, “How dare you?” As one of the guards

in a beanie was about to pull the trigger, the man in the beret yells, “halt, this is the son of

our bene ce!” He runs back into the castle as all the people in the stando become

dumbfounded.

In the middle of the castle, about two oors up, lies a grand carpeted room. Two

thrones, one larger and another smaller in the back, while a two long tables with empty

chairs are found on the two sides of the thrones. One man sits aggressively on the larger

throne. He looks as if he is in his mid-50s, with hawkish eyes, aquiline nose, and a mouth

with the weirdest smile, as if he is plotting something. By his side, a woman in her late-

thirties sits gracefully. They are both wearing crowns made of silver and velvet. On the top

of the crowns, you see a purple pearl smooth like butter after a whole day of mixing. They

are the lords of Isle de France. The man, Leopold Villefort the 14th, had a great-great-

great-great-grandfather that saved king from a Swiss mercenary ambush had won this

piece of land, and they have been loyalists since. Leopold grew up in a cruel environment.

As a 14 year old, he was prompted by his mother to poison his worthless brother that was

unlucky enough to be born 1 minute before him. As a 16 year old, he was forced to join

the French and Indian war with his twenty knights and slaughter hundreds of peasants

and salt lands that could potentially feed thousands more. Experiencing this much, he has

lost his trust of all people, and his sole purpose had become keeping this family moving

forward. Imagine his surprise, when he hears that his son has taken stand with a mob of

peasants to try to rob him of his food? But as he is considering that fact, his son walks in.

His son Noirtier is his largest son. He grew up in a household of three brothers from

three di erent mothers. he is also out of money. So despite his anger, he is forced to

confront his father and ask for money. “Noirtier, What in the world are you doing? Why are

you colluding with mobs?” His father makes a query. “What are you speaking of? I have
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been in fort for the past 2 weeks.” Noirtier says, with slight confusion shown through his

eyebrows. “Interesting. What do you come here for then? I Have not seen you in weeks.”

His father replies. With the inability to look at his father in his eyes, he very quietly says, “I

am out of money.” “What? I cannot hear you.” His father replies. “I am out of money. Give

me some money please.” Young Noirtier sticks his chest out and says forthrightly.

Leopold thinks in his head, “we have a mob uprising, and my son wants money. What can

I possibly do to link these problems together?” He says, “I tax that village 20,000 franks

annually. If you deal with them, I will give you 10,000 of those franks. But if you lower

those taxes, you will not earn any money.” There is actual logic behind making sure the

people are always highly taxed. For if the people starve, they plead to god and their baron

for mercy. If not, they start to ask why they are taxed. They think critically. That is of the

most danger.

So begins the journey of young noirtier. He grabs his sword and he walks to the

large wooden door in the front of the castle. He is a smart man. He knows all that he must

do is to Promise a solution, and then back out three months later when they are long

gone. But he is bored. He has been sitting in his room for most of his life, learning

knowledge from the abbe of the tower of bronze and glass. He is almost always guarded

by security. He is like a bird in a beautiful cage. Others are envious, but personally, he

wishes to be one of the birds ying in the air with hundreds of their own, traveling the

world. When the draw door is lowered through a complex mechanical structure, he looks

at the group of malnourished men, and it must be due to the uttermost extreme boredom,

he thinks of the dishonoring idea of challenging one of these men to a duel. “They look so

weak, what could go wrong?” He thinks. He dismisses the group of guards and says,

“Bring your strongest, more honorable, most enduring ghter, the sun be our witness, let

us have a duel to the death” he completely ignores the shock in the eyes of every

member of the mob except for Morrell. Morrell stands in front and accepts the challenge.
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 From one point of view, two men, one malnourished and one brawny, one inexperienced

and one skillful, one focused and one bored, they could not be more apart. But from the

other hand, blonde hair to their ears, purple eyes, 5 pieds and 3 pouces tall, if you do not

look up close, they are the same person. After running back to the door and asking for a

sword from the guard, the two begin the duel to the death. Morrell clearly knows nothing

about sword ghting. All he knows how to do is slash and thrust. On the other side,

Noirtier seems to be well prepared, his sword is weighted with gems on the pommel and

block, each worth much more that Morrell’s life. His sword so sharp you can hardly see

the sword if the blade is pointed at you. A stando begins, until the young noble slashes

his blade towards Morrell’s sword. Morrell loses his balance as he steps backwards

towards the crowd acting as a fence. As Noirtier wins the upper hand, he loosens his

focus and simply begins slashing. That is until Morrell saw the opportunity to kick Noirtier

in the guts with all the muscle he has. He walks forward and points the sword at the tip of

Noirtier’s nose. He says, “I win. Now let us talk terms.” The abbe of dourdan takes the

swords o two men and pulls them away from the mob. They have a short conversation,

in which gasps of surprise and anger were heard. No one else was in the room where it

happened, and only gasps of surprise and anger was heard, followed by sound of fabric

moving. What can only be known is that abbe walked out and says, he has told us where

some traders left some food. He can go back to his castle, and we will nd some food.

Morrell walks into the castle in the fanciest cloths he has ever worn. He tries his

best to guess where Noirtier’s room is, so he can just sit down and think. He remembers

the order: left right stair, left left left, right left, the big room. So he turns left, turns right,

walks up a step of stairs, he turns left, left again, left again, and then turns right.

Eventually, he sees that to the left of his is a big, fancy room. He enters the bed and

thinks, “why did abbe sacri ce the wellness of the whole town just to have me come into

this castle?” He simply is unable to gure it out. So instead, he just sits, and thinks, then,
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 he hears a door knock. He opens the door, to see no one. Then he looks down, to see a

box. It is a simple wooden box, with a tulip shaped door. He tries to lift it up, but it is

extremely heavy. So instead, he pushes the box, and slides it into his room. He opens the

tulip, to nd countless shining golden coins. Morrell froze for a solid minute before he

could restain his mobility. How is it possible? How can this much money be gathered? He

begins to feel a sense of anger. This money could save his entire village from starvation. It

was just casually given to a young man with no real method of spending it. He asks, “why

is this life so unfair?”

The second day, his teacher comes. He had sworn an oath of no participation, so

he simply says, “beware of poisoning” and resumes his curriculum. He really enjoys not

having to do farm work, and also to learn new things that spark his interest. His lifelong

dream has always been becoming a citizen running a business, all he has to do was to

just sit and watch life move. He cherishes this new life that he can experience.

Noirtier is an adventurous person. He is rebellious. He is very interested in living life

as a farmer, working hard everyday, socializing with friends, and being free to see

whatever he wants. But when he entered Dourdan, he was uninterested. Everyone seems

tired, sick, and starving. Houses looked un nished but also ancient. He was shocked to

learn that all of these people were penniless and out of food, so they have all begin laying

on their bed and no longer having any hope in life, waiting to starve. This mission was

meant to be their last, hope, but all has failed. All he could do was lay with those people,

miserably.

10 months pass, and Morrell is about to eat his daily gourmet breakfast with

scrambled eggs and caviar balls. He notices a herb he learned from his father that was

silent but deadly. He notices a second herm his mother taught him as erce and deadly.

He realised that two of his “brothers” have been poisoning him all this time. He is

rendered disappointed. He simply tells the older brother that the younger brother is
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poisoning him, and walks away as the two brothers turn and poison each other. He then

relizes that he misses his family, and misses breathing fresh air outside. Sadly, he can

only sit in his room and learn about the world. No one even noticed that he was a di erent

person. He begins to miss home.

Noirtier decides he does not want to just sit around. he realized that the crops

grown last year is worth more then 20,000 francs by a long shot. He tallies the tax

collected and learns that the tax collector has been taxing a larger sum of money then he

was commanded to tax. He leads the villagers to a raid of his house as they seize his ill-

gotten goods and commences in a feast. He becomes a folk hero and were celebrated by

all. He enjoys the environment of Dourdan.

A year passes, and they exchange back to each-other’s place. Morrell learned that

family matters more than everything else. He also opened a business selling boats in the

ports of normandy, and started a family with his wife. They lived happier than ever, while

he always remembered to tell his child, Edmond, that he loves him.

Noirtier vows to never have a child. In his mind he grows a seed of rebellion. He

uses that seed to create a secret society focused on overthrowing the king. He called it

the ABC cafe. After obtaining a position as the right hand man to Napoleon, he vowed to

never raise taxes over the point of starvation for the rst republic. He called it the Dourdan

law.

As for Abbe? He sadly gets put into Château d’If for supporting Napoleon, right

after he discovers the location of a large roman treasure. What future awaits? Stay tuned

for the Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas.

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