The Danger of Confiding One's Secret to a Goat — The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

On the first of March, after many weeks, spring sun lights the face of Notre-Dame. On a balcony opposite, Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier and her noble companions sew and laugh, under the eye of her mother, Dame Aloïse. Captain Phœbus de Châteaupers stands with them. He is betrothed to Fleur-de-Lys, but the match leaves him cold. He answers her mother without warmth, and he is ill at ease among proper ladies.

A dancer is seen in the square. Fleur-de-Lys asks if this is the Bohemian he saved from robbers. He knows her by her goat. The girls also see a priest on the north tower, still as a bird of prey: the archdeacon of Josas. Phœbus calls the dancer up. La Esmeralda enters, blushing, and her beauty turns the others cold and cruel about her dress. He flatters her, and speaks of the bellringer's beating. She pities that man. Her goat, Djali, runs in. The bag at its neck, she says, is her secret. Little Bérangère opens it, and the goat spells Phœbus with wooden letters. Fleur-de-Lys calls the dancer a magician and faints. Her mother orders the gypsy away. Esmeralda gathers the letters and leaves. Phœbus follows her.