Clopin sings, "The Bells of Notre Dame," while the village children gather around to hear the story.
"Dark was the night when our tale was begun in the docks near Notre Dame."
A small wooden boat was carrying several gypsies. Among them was a mother holding her two baby twins, one boy and one girl, but they were both crying loudly. This could easily them them away.
"Shut them up, will you?!" hissed their father.
"We'll be spotted!" a gypsy man cried out in a loud harsh whisper.
"Hush, little ones," the mother cooed to her babies.
"Four frightened gypsies, slid silently under the docks near Notre Dame."
"Four guilders for safe passage into Paris!" the boatman said, but then out of nowhere, an arrow shot through the spear that he was holding. And then soldier came out and surrounded them all.
"But a trap had been laid for the gypsies and they gazed up in fear and alarm at figure whose clutches were iron as much as the bells..."
"Judge Claude Frollo!" cried the twins' father in horror.
"...the bells of Notre Dame!"
As the man approached them on his monstrous friesban horse, his haunting shadow towered over them and gave them a cold look full of hate.
"Judge Claude Frollo longed to purge the world of vice and sin and he saw corruption everywhere, except within."
"Bring these gypsy vermin to the Palace of Justice!" he demanded sounding absolutely cold and merciless. While everyone aboard the boat was being put in shackles, the woman, still clutching the two bundles in her arms, tried to sneak away unnoticed but a soldier saw and grabbed her.
"You there! What are you hiding?" he asked.
"Stolen good no doubt. Take them from her!" demanded Frollo.
"She ran!"
That woman ran for her life, faster than what she thought possible, through the snowy streets still managing to hold onto her now sleeping twins while Frollo followed close behind on his horse. She would do anything to save the lives of her children. She even managed to hop a fence, despite having her arms full with two babies. When she approached the cathedral, she banged on one of the huge wooden doors.
" Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary!" she shrieked and begged, hoping someone would open the doors.
But unfortunately, Frollo caught up and continued to pursue her once again. She gasped and tried to run once more only he grabbed onto both of the blankets that they were each wrapped in and pulled them away from her. She fought and wouldn't let go, forcing him to kick her down to the ground with his boot. She landed on the steps, snapping her neck and cracking her skull, killing her instantly. He sat on his horse, while feeling absolutely no guilt or remorse about taking life of another human being. If anything, he was quite proud of himself for doing so. However, the movement and cries coming from both of the bundles interrupted his thoughts.
"Babies?" he said to himself, now his full attention on them. He partially unwrapped the blanket of the baby girl, who had a light to medium tan complexion along with a full head of black curls. And when he did the same with her brother, upon seeing his face, Frollo recoiled in terror. "A monster!" He was severely deformed with light complexion and had a little auburn colored hair on his head.
He desperately looked around for a place to dispose of the deformed baby and spotted a nearby well. He rode over was just about to drop the bundle in but then a voice called out to him.
"Stop!" "Cried the Archdeacon."
"This is an unholy demon! I'm sending back to hell where it belongs!" Frollo sneered. "And I'll leave this child here at the church."
"See there the innocent blood you have spilt on the steps of Notre Dame!" the Archdeacon confronted him.
"I am guiltless. She ran, I pursue," Frollo replied flippantly. He then rode back over the Archdeacon with both bundles in his arms.
"Now you must add these children's blood to your guilt on the steps of Notre Dame..." the Archdeacon confronted him once again, now holding corpse of the poor gypsy mother in his arms.
"My conscience is clear!" Frollo exclaimed, feeling very irritated.
"You can lie to yourself and your minions. You can claim that you haven't a qualm, but you never can, run from nor hide what you've done from the eyes...the very eyes of Notre Dame!" the Archdeacon pointed up to the building where all of the statues peered down at Frollo with judgement.
"And for one time in his life of power and control. Frollo felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul."
"What must I do?" he asked with fear in his voice.
"Care for the children and raise them as your own, advised the Archdeacon while he was carrying in the corpse of the gypsy woman to give her a proper burial.
"What?! I'm to be settled with this gypsy and misshapen..." Frollo growled while glaring down at the babies, but paused for a moment when he noticed they both had fallen asleep. They looked very peaceful. "Very well...But let him live with you in your church." He looked down at the deformed baby boy. "And I will take her to live with me up in my living quarters," he said as he switched his gaze towards the baby girl.
"Live here? Where?" the Archdeacon asked bewildered.
"Anywhere...Just so he's kept locked away where no one else can see the bell tower perhaps. And who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways. Even this foul creature & gypsy child may yet prove one day to be...of use to me." he said while grinning sinisterly down at them.
The Archdeacon gave him a condemning look and brought in the gypsy woman's corpse into the cathedral and then came back out and took the deformed child from the minister. After, he left, with the other normal looking child, to go back to his living quarters.
"And Frollo gave the child a cruel name. A name that means half-formed; Quasimodo. And he gave the girl a very common name; O/C. Now here is a riddle, to guess if you can, sing the bells of Notre Dame. Who is the monster and who is the man? Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells of Notre Dame!"