On January 6, 1482, the people of Paris were in the midst of an April Fool's Day celebration. The election of the "King of Fools" was taking place in the court hall. The lucky King of Fools was brought out triumphantly, and the surprise and appreciation immediately reached its highest point. He had a tetrahedral nose, a horseshoe-shaped mouth, one eye, a hunchback, a limp, his body was about the same height as it was wide, the lower part was square, and his legs, when viewed from the front, looked as if they were two scythes, with the handles of the scythes joined to the hilts of the knives. In the midst of all his deformities there was a firmness, a seriousness, and a bravery that could not be doubted, and this was the king of fools that the populace was about to offer up, Quasimodo, the bell-ringer of the Parisian pair of matrons. The people carried him on their shoulders and paraded him through the streets.
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 the Plaza de Grebed. In the square, *Esmeralda, the gypsy girl for whom the seller was an artist, was dancing on a Persian carpet spread casually at her feet; she was light, airy, and happy. That circle was crowded, and the audience numbered in the hundreds. 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 see with a single son of 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 countenance which paid more attention than the rest to the dancing woman, with a few curses escaping from his lips from time to time; it was Claude Floreau, the sub-prior of the Parisian Synod of the Mother House. 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. Esmeralda is horrified and disturbed by the curse of the vice-priest and the friaress.
In the evening, Esmeralda left the festival square with her beloved little goat. The curious Gangovar kept following the heavenly girl. When they came to an alley beside the square, suddenly Frollo and Quasimodo leapt out and tried to take Esmeralda by force. The young girl cried out for help, and Gangowa was too frightened to move. In the midst of the crisis, the royal guard passes by, and Fabi, the head of the guard, saves the maiden. Frollo, who instructed Quasimodo to rob the man, slipped away while the guards were fighting with Quasimodo, who was captured by the guards.
Esmeralda thanked the Captain of the Guard, 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, Gangovar strayed into the kingdom of the beggars and was condemned to death according to the laws of the beggar kingdom. Esmeralda in order to save his life, according to the rules of the beggar's kingdom, agreed to be his "wife". She provided him with food and lodging, but did not allow him to get close to her.
The next day, Quasimodo was punished on the gallows in the Piazza del Grimaldi, where the crowd of onlookers played and abused the ugly man. He saw Frollo in the crowd and was delighted, 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 gibbet and subjected to 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 Quasimodo's ever-dry eye, the first tear that perhaps he had ever shed in his life. 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 it was a sight 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!"
Casimodo 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 Quasimodo leaned against the bell tower of Notre Dame to admire her dance, a tender, lovely look in his rugged eyes. Quasimodo was an abandoned orphan, whom Frollo had adopted sixteen years before out of a feeling of pity and compassion. From then on he regarded the vice-principal as his only relative and obeyed 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 hatred with kindness touched him, and from then on, he had infinite gratitude and pure love for her. Florentine also in the north tower of the church with eyes looking for the girls dancing in the square, since he failed to rob Esmeralda, has not given up the possession of her lust. Esmeralda appeared, as usual, at the end of the street. Her nominal husband, Gangovar, follows her every day and helps her collect the coins she sells. The captain of the guards, Fabi, made a deep impression on Esmeralda; he was not only her savior, but also the idol of her love and worship.
Fabi comes from a noble family; he is young, handsome and beautiful. He was engaged to his cousin and frequented his aunt's house, where he was a guest of honor. By chance, Esmeralda was dancing in the street and was recognized by Fabi, who was a guest at his aunt's house, and he greeted her and asked her to perform at her house. Esmeralda arrives at Aunt Fabi's house with her cute little goat. One of the ladies at the aunt's house took advantage of Esmeralda's inattention while she was speaking with Fabi and lured the goat to a corner of the house with candy. Curious, she unhooked the pouch around the goat's neck, opened it, and dumped its contents on the floor. It was an alphabet, with each letter inserted separately into a small piece of boxwood. The sheep went to plucking the letters skillfully with his hoofs, and in a moment they were lined up in a word, which the people were astonished to find was the name of a man, Fabi. This trick of the sheep's was the result of two months of Esmeralda's attentive coaching. Esmeralda blushed when she saw the stupid thing that Goat had done. All this was in full view of Fabi, the old womanizer who played with women, and he knew the secret of the beautiful gypsy girl's heart. On seeing Esmeralda out, he asked her for an evening rendezvous at the inn. This sweet fruit from the sky makes Fabi so pleased with himself that he tells Florentine's brother the secret of his rendezvous with the girl. Florent soon learns of this and, jealous that the woman he covets is about to fall into the arms of another man, he arrives at the inn in disguise. Just as Fabi was about to make merry with Esmeralda in his arms, Frollo leaped from the room, drew his dagger, and plunged it into Fabi's breast. Frollo flees. News of the gypsy girl's assassination of the Captain of the Guard soon spread throughout the city. Esmeralda was arrested. She succumbed and was sentenced by the court to be hanged.
Esmeralda 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 masonry. One night, Frollo, dressed in a black surcoat, came secretly to the dungeon, and, unabashedly expressing his love and inner anguish for Esmeralda, he suggested taking her with him to escape. The maiden rejected him with bitter curses.
The next day the execution took place, and Esmeralda was escorted to the Plaza de Mahévy 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 this moment Quasimodo rushed from the church, swung down the executioner, raised 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 Quasimodo's enthusiasm. There was indeed beauty in Quasimodo at this point, this orphan, this found child, who felt majestic and robust, who 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!
Casimodo protects Esmeralda, and when Frollo sneaks into Esmeralda's housing late at night, he is beaten by Casimodo. 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, disdains him and gallops away. Quasimodo, who would rather be ill-treated by Esmeralda 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 fall to his death 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, unaware of the truth, fought bravely against the attacking populace in the church. Taking advantage of the confusion, Frollo and Gangovar infiltrate the church and trick Esmeralda into escaping under the guise of helping with the escape. The young girl falls into Frollo's clutches once again, and she grabs Gamgoire's sleeve to plead for his aid, but Gamgoire is only too busy petting her goats; he is not madly in love with the gypsy girl, but almost more in love with her goats.
King Louis XI, holed up in the Bastille, had thought the civilian riot was an attack on the deacons of the court, and secretly gloated. When he realized that the real purpose of the riot was against 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 Esmeralda. On the run, Gangovar left Esmeralda. The maiden was dragged by Gangovar's friend, the hooded man (actually Frollo) dressed in black, to the gallows in the Plaza de Grebedo, where Frollo tore off his mask and revealed his original form, pointing to the gallows erected in stone, and once again coerced Esmeralda, saying, "Choose either between it or me." Esmeralda refuses to obey to the death, and wants to publish his sins. Frollo says shamelessly, "People won't believe your words-that would only add a charge of slander to a sin." He leaves the maiden in the care of the friaress of the Dutch tower, and goes himself to call the searching military police. Seeing Esmeralda before her, the friaress could not help thinking of her own lost daughter. When both of them took out a small, delicately embroidered shoe that each of them had kept, the friaress realized that Esmeralda was her own daughter who had been lost 15 years ago. While the mother and daughter are recognizing each other, in a state of grief and joy, the military police called by Frollo arrive. Esmeralda is dragged from the friar's arms by the executioner for calling out to Fabi, who is searching the scene, 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 they were on fire at the same time. Esmeralda in white, with a knot around her neck, swayed in the air. Frollo stretched his neck above Notre Dame to scrutinize the picture of the spider catching the fly, and a devilish grin, a grin that would not have been human, burst out on his face. 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 angrily pushed him off the top floor of the church. Frollo fell like a falling tile to the street stones and was left without a human form.
Two years later, two conjoined corpses were found in a cache in the cellars of Montefoggion. One of them was a deformed male body, and there was not a single break in his collar bone, so it was clear that he had not been hanged, but had come to his death on his own. When people tried to separate him from the female corpse he was holding, the bones turned to dust.