Notes

Gringoire and the entire Court of Miracles are very worried. For more than a month, no one knows what happened to the Esmeralda. One day as Gringoire is walking in front of the Palace of Justice, he sees a crowd trying to get back and asks what is going on.

“A woman who murdered a captain of archers is being tried. My brother, who is an archdeacon, says she is a witch.”

Gringoire follows the crowd and enters the room where the witch is judged. This is the Esmeralda.

'Daughter,' said the President of the Tribunal, 'you are bohemian and on the night of the twenty-ninth of March last stabbed a captain of the king’s archers, Phoebus de Chateaupers. On the day that the king pleases, then at noon you will be led barefoot, with the rope around your neck, in front of the great portal of Our Lady, then Place de Greve where you will be hanged from the gallows of the city.”

The police are taking Esmeralda to prison.

A few days later, a priest goes to see her in her prison, and she recognizes the face that has been chasing her for so long. That head she saw in the Falourdel below the beloved head of her Phoebus.

'Ah!' she cries out, 'You killed my Phoebus! Oh, you wretch?! You hate me very much.'

'I love you!' cries the priest. 'I have loved you since the first day I saw you dance on the forecourt. And since that day, there is in me a man I do not know. At night I feel your body sliding on mine. I wanted to know who you were. I’ve been watching you on the street corners, watching you from the top of my tower. I first tried to get you banned from Notre Dame Square, hoping to forget you if you didn’t come back. Then I had the idea to take you away, but this officer came and delivered you. And in delivering you, he caused your misfortune, mine and his. Another day, I saw a man walking past me who was laughing at your name. I followed him. You know the rest.”

“Oh my Phoebus…” said Esmeralda, weeping.

“Don’t say that name! I love you, take pity on me. Oh if you wanted, we could be happy”

“What happened to my Phoebus?”

'Argh!!' said the priest, giving up his arm. 'You are merciless! He is dead.'

'Dead?' she said, 'Then why are you talking about living? Let me die! Nothing will bring us together, not even the underworld."

******

Phoebus, however, had not died. This had brought no change to Esmeralda’s conviction. The important thing was that the accused be hanged. So, one morning, Phoebus goes to see his cousin Fleur de Lys.

“Oh my God, beautiful cousin, there are many people in the square.”

'A witch is going to be hanged!

A car arrives on the square. In the car, a young girl is sitting, arms tied behind her back. At his feet is a little goat.

'Look at beautiful cousin,' said Fleur de Lys, 'it’s this bohemian girl and her goat.'

The bohemian woman gets out of the car with her goat. The rope on her neck hangs behind her. The archdeacon is in front of the portal of the cathedral. He approaches her very slowly, then he says aloud,

“Young lady, have you asked God for forgiveness for your sins?”

He leans to his ear and says, “I can still save you.”

“What have you done with my Phoebus?”

At this moment, the archdeacon raises his head and sees on the balcony of the house of Gondoliers, the captain standing, near Fleur de Lys.

'Well, die,' he said in his teeth. 'No one will have you.'

The bohemian raises her eyes to the sky and utters a cry of joy as she also perceives Phoebus.

“Phoebus!” she cried, “My Phoebus!”

As the executioner approaches the Esmeralda to take him to the gallows, a strange figure descends with a rope from the top of the cathedral. He runs towards the executioner with the speed of a cat falling from a roof, terrorizes him under two huge fists, removes the bohemian with one hand and runs towards the cathedral screaming in a loud voice, “Asylum!”

'Asylum! Asylum!' repeats the crowd.

The judges and the executioner are astounding. Within the walls of Notre Dame, the condemned is inviolable because the cathedral is a place of refuge. Quasimodo stops under the large portal. He carries the girl carefully and enters the church with her. A little later, he reappears at the top of a tower. He lifts the gypsy in his arms and shouts, “Asylum!”

The crowd applauds again.