The Broken Jug — The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Gringoire turns back for the pallet, loses himself among the crossings, and follows a red glow down a steep muddy lane. Shapes crawl ahead of him, begging as they go: a man in a bowl, in Italian; a cripple on a frame of crutches, in Spanish; a blind man with a dog, in Latin. He has nothing to give. The three throw off the pretence and run. A swarm of false cripples closes behind him and drives him into a wide yard lit by fires.

He is in the Court of Miracles, where daylight beggars become thieves at night. They bring him to Clopin Trouillefou, King of Thunes, seated on a hogshead, with the Duke of Egypt and the Emperor of Galilee beside him. An outsider in the Kingdom of Argot must hang. He may join them if he can rob a belled manikin without sounding a bell. He falls, the bells ring, and the noose goes round his neck. Custom then offers him to the women. They refuse, until Esmeralda comes through the crowd with her goat. She takes him. A crock is broken, and the Duke of Egypt declares them husband and wife for four years.