NovelGuide: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: Novel Summary: Book IV Chapter 1

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Book IV Chapter 1

Summary
The first Sunday after Easter was called in England Low Sunday and in France le dimanche de la Quasimodo from the word Quasimodo that commences the Latin offertory for that day's mass. On this day in 1467, sixteen years prior to the period of the story, a child had been left upon the bedstead fixed in the pavement to the left of the entrance of Notre Dame. It was customary for unwanted children to be left there and any whom wanted to claim them as their own were welcome. There was also in this place a copper basin for the reception of alms. This particular child had attracted the attention of a group of four old women. They observed a very deformed child of about four years of age crying and struggling inside a canvas bag. The women, sisters of a religious order, debated whether or not the creature should be put to death and after consulting several other bystanders they agreed to burn it as an abomination. A young priest, however, stepped forward and adopted the child. One of the women whispers to her friend that the young priest, Monsieur Claude Frollo, is a rumored to be a sorcerer.