Sixteen years previous to the epoch when this story takes place, one fine morning, on Quasimodo Sunday, a living creature had been deposited, after mass, in the church of Notre- Dame, on the wooden bed securely fixed in the vestibule on the left, opposite that great image of Saint Christopher, which the figure of Messire Antoine des Essarts, chevalier, carved in stone, had been gazing at on his knees since 1413, when they took it into their heads to overthrow the saint and the faithful follower. —
在这个故事发生的时代之前十六年的一个晴朗的早晨，在圣母院的Quasimodo星期日，一个活生生的生物被留在了教堂里，在左侧的门厅上固定的木床上，就在对面的那座巨大的圣克里斯托弗像旁边，从1413年开始，Messire Antoine des Essarts骑士雕在石头上，整个精致的身躯被他仿佛在叩拜的大肖像前凝视着，那时他们突然想要推翻圣徒和忠实的追随者。 —

Upon this bed of wood it was customary to expose foundlings for public charity. —
在这张木床上，人们习惯上将弃婴暴露出来以便接受公众的施舍。 —

Whoever cared to take them did so. In front of the wooden bed was a copper basin for alms.
有人想要领养这些弃婴就去领养，床前是一个铜盆用来接受施舍。

The sort of living being which lay upon that plank on the morning of Quasimodo, in the year of the Lord, 1467, appeared to excite to a high degree, the curiosity of the numerous group which had congregated about the wooden bed. —
1467年主的Quasimodo日的那个早晨，躺在那块木板上的生物似乎引起了聚集在木床周围的众多人群的高度好奇。 —

The group was formed for the most part of the fair sex. —
这个群体主要是女人。 —

Hardly any one was there except old women.
几乎除老妇人外，别无他人。

In the first row, and among those who were most bent over the bed, four were noticeable, who, from their gray ~cagoule~, a sort of cassock, were recognizable as attached to some devout sisterhood. —
在第一排，以及最倾身看着木床的那些人中，有四位令人瞩目的人，从她们的灰色头巾来看，一种类似于袍子，可以看出她们属于某个虔诚的修女团体。 —

I do not see why history has not transmitted to posterity the names of these four discreet and venerable damsels. —
我不清楚为什么历史没有把这四位谨慎而可敬的年长女士的名字传到后世。 —

They were Agnes la Herme, Jehanne de la Tarme, Henriette la Gaultière, Gauchère la Violette, all four widows, all four dames of the Chapel Etienne Haudry, who had quitted their house with the permission of their mistress, and in conformity with the statutes of Pierre d’Ailly, in order to come and hear the sermon.
她们是Agnes la Herme, Jehanne de la Tarme, Henriette la Gaultière, Gauchère la Violette, 这四位寡妇，这四位教会圣堂Etienne Haudry的女士，她们在她们的女主人的允许下，依照Pierre d’Ailly的规定，离开了她们的住所前来听布道。

However, if these good Haudriettes were, for the moment, complying with the statutes of Pierre d’Ailly, they certainly violated with joy those of Michel de Brache, and the Cardinal of Pisa, which so inhumanly enjoined silence upon them.
但是，尽管这些良好的Haudriettes当时在遵守Pierre d’Ailly的规定，她们肯定是在快乐地违反米歇尔·德·布拉什和比萨的基督教大主教若望等人如此不人道地强迫她们保持沉默的规定。

“What is this, sister?” said Agnes to Gauchère, gazing at the little creature exposed, which was screaming and writhing on the wooden bed, terrified by so many glances.
“姐妹，这是什么?” Agnes问Gauchère，注视着那个被暴露出来的小生物，它在木床上惨叫和扭动，被那么多目光吓坏了。

“What is to become of us,” said Jehanne, “if that is the way children are made now?”
“如果现在生儿子的方式就是这样，在这样的环境中孩子们以后该怎么办呢?” Jehanne说。

“I’m not learned in the matter of children,” resumed Agnes, “but it must be a sin to look at this one.”
“我对孩子的事情不了解，” Agnes继续说，”但盯着这个看肯定是一种罪过。”

”‘Tis not a child, Agnes.”
“这不是一个孩子，Agnes。”

”‘Tis an abortion of a monkey,” remarked Gauchère.
“这是一个被堕胎的猴子，” Gauchère评论道。

”‘Tis a miracle,” interposed Henriette la Gaultière.
“这真是个奇迹，”亨丽埃特·拉戈提尔插话说。

“Then,” remarked Agnes, “it is the third since the Sunday of the ~Loetare~: —
“那么，”阿涅斯评论道，“这已经是自‘乐透主日’以来的第三个奇迹了： —

for, in less than a week, we had the miracle of the mocker of pilgrims divinely punished by Notre-Dame d’Aubervilliers, and that was the second miracle within a month.”
因为在不到一个星期的时间里，我们经历了朝圣者讥讽者被奥贝尔维利耶圣母神惩罚的奇迹，那已经是一个月内的第二个奇迹了。”

“This pretended foundling is a real monster of abomination,” resumed Jehanne.
“这个自称被遗弃的孩子确实是一个真正的怪兽，令人厌恶的怪物，”吉哈娜恢复道。

“He yells loud enough to deafen a chanter,” continued Gauchère. “Hold your tongue, you little howler!”
“它尖叫得够让圣歌者都聋掉，”高雪尔继续说道。“闭嘴，你这只小吼叫者!”

“To think that Monsieur of Reims sent this enormity to Monsieur of Paris,” added la Gaultière, clasping her hands.
“想想看兰斯的先生将这个极端可恶之事送给巴黎的主教先生，”拉戈提尔补充道，双手紧握。

“I imagine,” said Agnes la Herme, “that it is a beast, an animal,–the fruit of–a Jew and a sow; —
“我想，”阿涅斯拉埃姆说，“这是一个野兽，一个动物，–犹太人和母猪的结晶； —

something not Christian, in short, which ought to be thrown into the fire or into the water.”
简而言之，这是一种非基督教的东西，应该被扔进火里或水里。”

“I really hope,” resumed la Gaultière, “that nobody will apply for it.”
“我希望真的没有人会申请养这个东西，”拉戈提尔继续说道。

“Ah, good heavens!” exclaimed Agnes; “those poor nurses yonder in the foundling asylum, which forms the lower end of the lane as you go to the river, just beside Monseigneur the bishop! —
“啊，天哪！”阿涅斯呼喊道；“那些可怜的清道夫奶妈们，就在贝塞特主教教区尽头的幼儿院里！ —

what if this little monster were to be carried to them to suckle? —
如果这个小怪物被送到那里哺乳怎么办？ —

I’d rather give suck to a vampire.”
我宁可给吸血鬼哺乳。”

“How innocent that poor la Herme is!” resumed Jehanne; —
“我们这位可怜的拉埃姆真是纯真无邪！”吉哈娜继续说道； —

“don’t you see, sister, that this little monster is at least four years old, and that he would have less appetite for your breast than for a turnspit.”
“姐姐，你没看出来吗，这个小怪物至少四岁了，他对你的乳房没有兴趣，他更想要烤肉转转呢。”

The “little monster” we should find it difficult ourselves to describe him otherwise, was, in fact, not a new-born child. —
“小怪物”我们很难用其他方式描述他，事实上，并不是一个新生儿。 —

It was a very angular and very lively little mass, imprisoned in its linen sack, stamped with the cipher of Messire Guillaume Chartier, then bishop of Paris, with a head projecting. —
这是一个非常角形且非常有生气的小东西，被困在布袋里，印有当时的巴黎主教吉约姆·夏蒂埃的记号，头部突出。 —

That head was deformed enough; one beheld only a forest of red hair, one eye, a mouth, and teeth. —
那个头部形态相当畸形；人只能看到一片红头发、一个眼睛、一个嘴巴和一排牙齿。 —

The eye wept, the mouth cried, and the teeth seemed to ask only to be allowed to bite. —
眼睛在哭泣，嘴巴在哭叫，牙齿似乎只想要咬人一口。 —

The whole struggled in the sack, to the great consternation of the crowd, which increased and was renewed incessantly around it.
整个人在袋子里挣扎着，令周围的人群极度惊骇，而这人群不断增加和更新。

Dame Aloise de Gondelaurier, a rich and noble woman, who held by the hand a pretty girl about five or six years of age, and dragged a long veil about, suspended to the golden horn of her headdress, halted as she passed the wooden bed, and gazed for a moment at the wretched creature, while her charming little daughter, Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier, spelled out with her tiny, pretty finger, the permanent inscription attached to the wooden bed: “Foundlings.”
富有的贵妇人Aloise de Gondelaurier一手牵着一个约五六岁的漂亮女孩，头上戴着一顶金角，拖着长长的面纱，稍作停留来看这可怜的人，而她那迷人的小女儿Fleur-de-Lys de Gondelaurier正用她娇小而美丽的手指拼读着挂在木床上不变的铭文：”遗弃儿童”。

“Really,” said the dame, turning away in disgust, “I thought that they only exposed children here.”
“真的，”贵妇人转身厌恶地说道，“我原以为他们只在这里遗弃婴儿。”

She turned her back, throwing into the basin a silver florin, which rang among the liards, and made the poor goodwives of the chapel of Etienne Haudry open their eyes.
她转身离开，将一枚银弗罗林扔进盆中，铛铛作响，使Etienne Haudry教堂的可怜老妇人们瞪大了眼睛。

A moment later, the grave and learned Robert Mistricolle, the king’s protonotary, passed, with an enormous missal under one arm and his wife on the other (Damoiselle Guillemette la Mairesse), having thus by his side his two regulators,–spiritual and temporal.
过了一会，庄严而博学的国王推写者罗伯特·米斯特里科勒，肩扛一本巨大的圣经，一边搀着身旁的妻子（达莫瓦泽尔吉拉梅特·拉梅雷斯），身边还有他的两个调解者——心灵和世俗之人。

“Foundling!” he said, after examining the object; —
“遗弃儿童！”他检视后说道； —

“found, apparently, on the banks of the river Phlegethon.”
“看起来是在弗列约顿河边发现的。”

“One can only see one eye,” observed Damoiselle Guillemette; “there is a wart on the other.”
“只能看到一只眼睛，”达莫瓦泽尔吉拉梅特观察说；“另一只眼上有个疣。”

“It’s not a wart,” returned Master Robert Mistricolle, “it is an egg which contains another demon exactly similar, who bears another little egg which contains another devil, and so on.”
“那不是疣，”罗伯特·米斯特里科勒回答道，“那是一个蛋，里面装着另一个恶魔，恰好和它长得一模一样，另一个恶魔的蛋里还装着另一个恶魔，依此类推。”

“How do you know that?” asked Guillemette la Mairesse.
“你怎么知道这些？”吉拉梅特·拉梅雷斯问。

“I know it pertinently,” replied the protonotary.
“我心里有数，”推写者回答。

“Monsieur le protonotare,” asked Gauchère, “what do you prognosticate of this pretended foundling?”
“尊敬的主推写者，”高谢尔问道，“您对这个所谓的遗弃儿童有何预测？”

“The greatest misfortunes,” replied Mistricolle.
“最大的不幸，”米斯特里科勒回答。

“Ah! good heavens!” said an old woman among the spectators, “and that besides our having had a considerable pestilence last year, and that they say that the English are going to disembark in a company at Harfleur.”
“啊！天哪！”在观众中有个老妇人说道，“去年我们还发生了相当大规模的瘟疫，而且他们说英国人打算在阿夫勒上岸。”

“Perhaps that will prevent the queen from coming to Paris in the month of September,” interposed another; —
“或许那会阻止女王在九月份来巴黎，”另一个插话道； —

“trade is so bad already.”
“贸易已经如此糟糕了。”

“My opinion is,” exclaimed Jehanne de la Tarme, “that it would be better for the louts of Paris, if this little magician were put to bed on a fagot than on a plank.”
“我觉得，”让讷·德拉·塔姆喊道，“要是把这个小魔术师放在一把篾条上而不是木板上会更好。”

“A fine, flaming fagot,” added the old woman.
“一捆漂亮的篾条，”老妇人补充道。

“It would be more prudent,” said Mistricolle.
“这样做更谨慎，”米斯特里科勒说。

For several minutes, a young priest had been listening to the reasoning of the Haudriettes and the sentences of the notary. —
几分钟来，一位年轻的神父一直在听着乐队的推理和书记的句子。 —

He had a severe face, with a large brow, a profound glance. —
他的脸庞严肃，额头宽阔，眼神深邃。 —

He thrust the crowd silently aside, scrutinized the “little magician,” and stretched out his hand upon him. —
他默默地把人群推开，审视着“小魔术师”，并伸手在他身上。 —

It was high time, for all the devotees were already licking their chops over the “fine, flaming fagot.”
现在正是时候，因为所有的信徒已经在盼着那“一捆漂亮的篾条”。

“I adopt this child,” said the priest.
“我收养这个孩子，”神父说。

He took it in his cassock and carried it off. The spectators followed him with frightened glances. —
他把孩子放在法衣里带走了。围观者们惊恐地注视着他。 —

A moment later, he had disappeared through the “Red Door,” which then led from the church to the cloister.
片刻之后，他已经消失在从教堂通往回廊的“红门”中。

When the first surprise was over, Jehanne de la Tarme bent down to the ear of la Gaultière,–
当最初的惊讶过去后，让讷·德拉·塔姆俯身对着拉·高缇埃耳语–

“I told you so, sister,–that young clerk, Monsieur Claude Frollo, is a sorcerer.”
“我告诉过你，姐妹，那位年轻的文书，弗罗洛先生，是个巫师。”