In the present day (in the year 1542), Quasimodo is now a young man, made partially deaf by a lifetime of ringing Notre Dame's bells. He talks about his desire to go to the Feast of Fools with Notre Dame's statues of saints and gargoyles. Frollo arrives and asks him who he is speaking to, reminding him that the stone statues cannot talk. They recite the biblical story of the Flight into Egypt, after which Frollo complains about Paris's gypsies and the Feast of Fools ("Sanctuary Part I"). Quasimodo offers to protect him outside; Frollo declines, warning him that he would be shunned if he were to go out in public ("Sanctuary Part II"). Quasimodo sings to himself, yearning to spend one day outside Notre Dame ("Out There").