Suddenly a youth cried out, "Esmeralda is coming! Esmeralda is in the square!" The name caused a magic effect, and all the people flocked to Graybed Square. In the square, Esméharda, a gypsy girl who made her living by selling her art, was dancing on a Persian carpet spread casually at her feet. She was light, airy, and happy. There were many people in that circle, hundreds of spectators. In the midst of the maiden's enthusiastic whirling, Gangovar, who was a skeptical philosopher and a satirical poet, was so mesmerized by the splendid sight that he could not at once see with certainty whether the wench was a human being, a fairy, or an angel. All the onlookers were transfixed, with their mouths wide open, except one grave, calm, and sombre middle-aged face which paid more attention to the dancing woman than the others, with a few curses escaping from his lips from time to time; it was Claude Vouronneau, the vicar-general of Notre-Dame de Paris. In the Dutch tower at the corner of the square, the abbess Gündil, who had been robbed of her own daughter by the gypsies fifteen years before, was beseeching her to go away in a pious, abhorrent voice. Esméharda is appalled and disturbed by the curse of the vice-priest and the friaress.
In the evening, Esmerharda left the festival square with her beloved little goat. The curious Gangovar kept following the heavenly girl. When they reached an alley near the square, Vorono and Gazimodo suddenly leapt out and tried to take Esméharda by force. The young girl cried out for help, Gangowa scared to move. At the moment of crisis, the royal guards passed by, and the chief of the guards, Fabi, saved the maiden. Vorono, who instructed Gazimodo to rob the man, slipped away while the guards were fighting with Gazimodo, who was captured by the guards.
Esmeharda thanked the captain of the guards, Fabi, and returned late at night to the Beggar's Kingdom area. It was a large square inhabited by the lower classes of Paris, French, Spanish, Italian, German, of different religions, beggars by day, thieves by night. It was a fantastic new world, a realm of hellish poetry. Esmeralda lived here, and her name had great magic among them. When she returned, the beggars of both sexes were gently arrayed, and their fierce faces were cheered by the sight of her. That night, Gangowar strayed into the beggar's kingdom and was condemned to death according to the laws of the beggar's kingdom. In order to save his life, Esméharda agreed to be his "wife" according to the rules of the Beggar's Kingdom, and she provided him with food and lodging, but did not allow him to get close to her.
The next day, Quasimodo was sentenced to death on the gallows in the Plaza de Grebes, where the crowd of onlookers played and abused the ugly man. He saw Vorono in the crowd and rejoiced, but his father, who had adopted him, scrambled to avoid his gaze. In accordance with the rules of punishment, Quasimodo was tied to the wheel of the gallows and received a heavy whipping. Thirsty, he roared angrily, "Give me water!" Amidst the impassive laughter of the people, Esmeralda stepped forward and tenderly brought the water gourd in her arms to the prisoner's parched mouth. Then the people saw a great tear roll out of the ever-dry eyes of Gazimodo, and it was perhaps the first tear he had ever shed. It was undoubtedly a moving sight to see such a beautiful, pure, charming, and delicate maiden thus dropping her pity on a man so pitiful, yet unsightly and vicious, and on the gallows the sight was even more remarkable. The crowd on the platform was moved to loud acclamations. Only the friaress in the Dutch tower cursed in a loud voice: "Abominable gypsy daughters! Abominable! Abomination!"
Gazimodo finished his punishment and remained back at Notre Dame as a bell ringer. Weeks passed, and Esmeralda danced in the Piazza de la Bathevi, and Gazimodo leaned against the bell tower of Notre Dame to admire her dance, a tender, lovely look in his rugged eyes. Garcimodo was an abandoned orphan, and sixteen years ago Vorono had adopted him out of a feeling of pity and compassion. From then on he regarded the vice-priest as his only relative, was obedient to him, and grew up to be the bell-ringer of Notre Dame. Mocked by the world because of his deformity, he was filled with hatred for mankind. Esmeralda's action of repaying his grudge with kindness touched him, and from then on, he had infinite gratitude and pure affection for her. Vorono also in the north tower of the church with eyes looking for the girl dancing in the square, since he failed to rob Esméharda roadblock, has not given up the desire to possess her. Esméharda appeared, as usual, at the end of the street. Her nominal husband, Gangowar, follows her every day and helps her collect the coins she sells. The captain of the guards, Fabi, impresses Esmehalda, not only as her savior, but also as the idol of her love and worship. Fabi came from a noble family; he was young, handsome, and beautiful. He was engaged to his cousin and frequented his aunt's house, where he was a guest of honor.
Accidentally, Esméharda was dancing in the street and was recognized by Fabi, who was visiting his aunt's house, and he greeted her and asked her to perform at her house. Esméharda arrives at Aunt Fabi's house with her cute little goat. One of the ladies at the aunt's house took advantage of Esméharda's inattention while she was speaking with Fabi to lure the little goat to a corner of the house with candy. Curious, she unhooked the pouch from the goat's neck, opened it, and dumped its contents on the floor. It was an alphabet, with each letter inserted into a small piece of boxwood. The sheep skillfully plucked at the letters with his hoof, and in a moment they were arranged into a word, which, to the astonishment of the people, was the name of a man, Fabi. This trick of the sheep's was the result of two months of attentive coaching by Esmeralda; and Esmeralda blushed when she saw the foolishness of what the sheep had done. All this was seen in full view by Fabi, the old womanizer, who had played with women, and who knew the secret of the beautiful gypsy girl's heart. On seeing Esmeralda out, he asked her to rendezvous at the inn for the evening. This sweet fruit from heaven made Fabi forget himself, and he told Vorono's brother the secret of his rendezvous with the girl. Vorono soon learns of the news, and seeing that the girl he covets is about to fall into the arms of another man, he arrives at the inn in disguise, burning with desire. Just as Fabi was about to make merry with Esmeralda in his arms, Vorono leaped out of the room, drew his dagger, and plunged it into Fabi's breast. Vorono escapes. News of the gypsy girl's assassination of the captain of the guard quickly spread throughout the city. Esmejarda was arrested. She succumbed and was sentenced by the court to be hanged.
Esmeharda was locked in a dark dungeon, and she was as weak as a poor fly, so weak that she could not move even the smallest piece of masonry. One night, Vorono, in his black surcoat, came secretly to the dungeon, and, unabashedly expressing his love and inner anguish for Esmeharda, suggested taking her with him to escape. The maiden rejected him with bitter curses.
The next day at the execution, Esmeralda was taken to Bakhvi Square to pray before her death. Fabi, healed from his wounds, sat on the upper floor of his aunt's house and watched the young girl indifferently, not daring to come forward to prove her innocence. At that moment, Quasimodo rushed from the church, waved his hand over the executioners, lifted the maiden high on his shoulders, leaped into the church, and called out in a terrible voice, "Holy ground!" Faced with this feat, a cheer erupted from the crowd, who were moved by the passion of Quasimodo. There was indeed beauty in this moment for Quasimodo. This orphan, this found child, who felt majestic and robust, he looked face to face with the crowds who had rejected him and thrust himself so powerfully into their midst that he gained victory from them. What a moving thing it was: a man so ugly protecting a maiden so unfortunate, Quasimodo saving a condemned prisoner, two extremely unfortunate people so rescuing and helping each other!
Gazimodo protects Esmejarda, and when Vorono sneaks into Esmejarda's housing late at night, he is beaten by Gazimodo. Learning that the maiden loves Fabi, Quasimodo hides all his pain and seeks out the captain of the guard for her, begging him to meet the maiden. The heartless Fabi, however, does not care and gallops away. Quasimodo, who would rather be ill-treated by Esmejarda than see her in pain, said to her; "We have some very high bell-towers over there, and a man who falls from them will drop dead before he reaches the ground; and if thou wilt that I should fall from them thou shalt not even have to speak a word, but only a wink of the eye will suffice."
Soon after, the Diet again sentenced Esmeralda to death, and the great masses of the Beggar's Kingdom heard of it with such righteous indignation that they attacked Notre Dame in the dead of night, led by the Beggar King, Croban, to rescue their sister. The deaf Quasimodo, not knowing the truth, fought valiantly against the attacking populace in the church. Vorono takes advantage of the confusion to infiltrate the church with Gangovar and trick Esmeralda into escaping under the guise of helping with the escape. The young girl fell into Vorono's clutches once again, and she grabbed Gamgoire's sleeve to plead for his aid, but Gamgoire was only too busy petting her goats; he was not madly in love with the gypsy girl, but almost more in love with her goats.
King Louis XI, holed up in the prison of Batouti, had thought that the riot of the commoners was an attack on the deacons of the court, and secretly gloated. When he realized that the real purpose of the riot was to oppose the king, he ordered the riot to be suppressed: "Kill all the civilians! Hang the witches!" Thus, the Beggar's Kingdom was attacked from the belly, and the bodies were strewn with blood in front of the gates of Notre Dame.
The king's army was in pursuit of Esmeharda. On the run, Gangovar left Esmerhalda. The maiden was dragged by Gangowa's friend, this masked man in black (actually Vorono), to the gallows in Graybed Square, where Vorono tore off his scarf, revealed his original form, and, pointing to the stone-erected gallows, once again coerced Esméharda, saying, "Choose between it and me." Esméharda would not comply to the death, and would publish his sins. Vorono said shamelessly, "People won't believe your words-that would only add a charge of slander to a sin." He gave the maiden into the custody of the acolyte of the Dutch tower, and went himself to call the military police who were searching for her. At the sight of Esmeharda before her, the acolyte woman could not help thinking of her own lost daughter. When both of them took out a small but delicate embroidered shoe that each of them had kept, the friaress realized that Esméharda was her own daughter who had been lost 15 years ago. While the mother and daughter were recognizing each other and were in a state of grief and joy, the military police called by Vorono arrived. Esméharda is dragged from the friar's arms by the executioner for calling out to Fabi, who is searching for her in the present Jan, exposing her hidden target. The mother fought to save her daughter, and the executioner pushed her under the gallows, where she died on her head.
The sun rose, and the roofs of all the buildings in the city of Paris were scarlet as if on fire at the same time. Esméharda, dressed in white, waved sternly in the air with a knot around her neck. Vorono stretched his neck above Notre Dame to scrutinize the picture of the spider catching the fly, and a devilish grin burst upon his face, a grin that would not have been human. The grief-stricken Quasimodo saw the hanged maiden on one side and the smile on the other, and he lunged at the vicar-general, and in his rage pushed him down from the top floor of the church. Vorono fell to the street stones like a falling tile, and was left without a human form.
Two years later, two conjoined bodies were found in the hiding place of the cellar of Montefoggion, one of them a deformed male corpse, without a single break in his collar-bone, so that it was evident that he had not been hanged, but had come to his death on his own. The bones turned to dust as people separated him from the female corpse he was holding.