“A Christmas tree?” Frollo gasped. An idea formed in his twisted brain. “If get a Christmas tree and decorate it for her then she will love me.”

He looked around his cell but since Christmas trees are scarce, there were none to be found. “I must venture out to find the perfect tree for her.” He grabbed his long black cloak and left the tower in search for one.      

He went all throughout Paris to find the perfect tree but found only depressing specimens that were inadequate to express his supreme obsession to his Gypsy lady-love. He went into the woods that outlined Paris. He saw towering beauties that stretched to the heavens. He looked for only a few mere moments when he saw the most loveliest of all the Evergreens in the world. It wasn’t very tall but gave the impression of being so, its pine needles were thick and luxurious and its form was all sweetness and purity. It was truly the only evergreen worthy of her. “I must have it!” he said as if to claim it for himself. Frollo then realized that he forgot an axe. “Curses!” he whispered.

He quickly traversed his steps till he reached his cell and searched the room for an axe. He fumbled through unsent love poems, and depressing poetry, IOUs from his loser brother, skulls, beakers and twisted scraps of metal. After two hours of frantic looking, he found his axe.

He triumphantly went back to the woods to get that stunning spruce but when got back he found that the woods were swarming with people cutting down the trees. Terrified, he rushed to make sure his tree was still standing but his perfect tree was gone. All that remained of it was its lovely impression in the snow and trail as it dragged off. In a fit of rage, he threw his hands to the sky “Why, God Why?” he yelled as he collapsed into the snow and when he woke up, the woods no longer possessed any of the charming Evergreens that once dominated the landscape. He wouldn’t let the cruel hand of fate ruin his quest to get a Christmas tree for the dear Esmeralda.

He went back to the city limits of Paris. He would have get a lesser tree but he would decorate it so beautifully, so full of rich glorious ornaments that she she never be able to see the failure of tree that was hidden underneath.       

He went back to all the tree places where he had a mere few hours ago, rejected the trees for being unworthy but now those trees too were gone. There were no more Christmas trees left in all of Paris. He felt that God had turned his back on him and that Satan was grasping his head between both gnarled hands and was crushing it with extreme force and fatality. Without a beautiful Christmas tree, Esmeralda, his beauty, his pain, his obsession, would never know the depths of his insane devotion. He must have a Christmas tree but they were all gone.

The temperature had dropped and a bitter cold was mingling with falling snow. Frollo sat alone on the frozen ground, despairing about his lost Christmas dream. As he sat suffering the tree vendor approached him. “Hey Sir, we’re closing.”

“Closing?” said Frollo with his gaze fixed on the icy ground. “My life is closing, ending in the snow laden depths of hell itself.”

“Yeah,” said the confused tree vender. “Look, you don’t have to wallow in misery at home but you can’t wallow in misery here.” The Vendor started to walk away but in desperation, Frollo grabbed him by his sleeve.

“Sir, my life can’t go on anymore. My fate is tied to that of the Christmas Tree. Without a tree, she will never know my yearning for her form to be close to mine in the small hours of the night when the darkness is so thick that heaven itself can no longer see us. If I can’t have a tree I must purge world of them.  A Christmas tree must be mine or Christmas trees must not exist in this world.”

“Sir,” said the even more confused and now scared Tree Vendor, “You’re insane!”      

“I implore you, Mr.Tree Salesman. If you have a tree hidden away, give it to me. I must have a tree! My Salvation depends on it.”

“Well,” the Tree Vendor said with a little hesitation. “I do have something that is like a tree.”

Frollo got to his feet and with burning eyes proclaimed, “I will take it!”
  
The Tree Vendor ushered Frollo to the back of the tree lot and that is where Frollo saw it. It was like a Evergreen sapling that only stood upright because it was connected to two pieces of wood. It only had tuffs of pine needles and most of its bark stood expose. It was a sad excuse for a Christmas tree. Surely this less than sub-tree could never even hope to reflect in Esmeralda’s big black eyes much less summon a smile to her lovely lips, but in Frollo’s warped mind he needed a Christmas tree to make her love him and no tree meant no love, so he bought the tree for 12 Euros.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frollo carried the small sapling back to his cell. He placed it on his desk and looked hard at the tiny tree. It was frail and weak. Frollo knew he couldn’t decorated it with all the rich beautiful ornaments he had envisioned for his perfect Christmas tree. Of course, Frollo never had any lovely Christmas ornaments from the start, so it was hardly a concession. He looked a his miserable tree.  “It’s too weak to support any more than two ornaments,” he thought sadly. He sighed, his beautiful grand vision for a Christmas tree that would help him steal Esmeralda’s heart was burning right before his eyes.

Frollo knew that he couldn’t stop his plan, once you start down the path of madness it is foolish to stop. He would decorate this wretched tree with whatever he could find and  he would present it to her and she will love him. This was his plan. This was his destiny.

He looked around the to see what two things he could hang on this god-forsaken lump of wood and chlorophyll. He saw that his cell offered few things of beauty. He had books with creepy pictures, scraps of papers that were filled with his words of love and bitterness, bits of metal that he was trying to turn into gold and various things that a lady like Esmeralda would consider unpleasant.     

He grabbed a strip of paper and stared at it for what seemed like an eternity. “What word is Esmeralda?” he thought. All the common words for love and beauty failed to capture what he truly felt for her, untold doom and despaired mixed pure insanity. He glanced up at the wall and saw the word, “Ananke” that he had carved into the stone wall of his cell. “Perfect!” he exclaimed. He grabbed his inkwell and wrote that fatal word on a long strip of paper in the best penmanship he could muster. It took a few tries before he was happy with his calligraphy. He then put it on the tree like garland. “Yes, very nice,” he said, pleased with himself. ” Now, one more bauble to seal my love.”

He picked up a hunk of twisted metal. It was something he had been trying in vain to transmute into precious gold. “Perhaps, I can transform this into an adornment she will love for this gloomy little tree.” He started twisting and forming it into a more pleasing Christmas shape. After a few hours, he was left with an odd malformed shape that slightly resembled a star. He gave it a quick polish in the hope that it would make it prettier but all the polish did was made its many imperfections even more noticeable. He found some wire and fashioned a hook for the pathetic deformed ornament and hung it on the sad tree.

It was done! He had a Christmas tree and it was decorated. He stared hard at it. All his pain, all his effort had been for this Christmas tree. So that he may present it to her and so she would fall in love with him. In his mind, he no longer saw the tiny tree with its strands of needles. He no longer saw the fatal word on parchment clinging to the weak branches. He longer saw the grotesque metal star awkwardly weighing down the little sapling. His insanity took hold of his vision and in his mind he saw a glistening, tall and superb tree.  This was the tree that would make her beg to be with him.

It was now very late and cold. The snow had stopped leaving all of Paris silent. Frollo knew that the his grand plan would have to wait till the morning. He would find someway to seek her out and present her with the fruit of his love, the exquisite Christmas tree that stood before him.  

Frollo then retired to a long sleep. Like every night, he dreamed of her. Esmeralda danced before for him in her fascinating manner. In this dream, she saw the Christmas tree in all the glory that Frollo’s insane fantasy now showed him. She caressed the tree and then he imagined that she caressed him but before she could the dream ended. Despite the dream ending at the best part, he felt refreshed. He awoke just as the bells were chiming. “Hmm, Noon?” he said. “Much later than I thought.”

He looked out the window and saw that like yesterday, it was very warm for December. He yawned and saw that Esmeralda was in the square dancing for the crowd. His eyes widen and were filled with fire. “I make haste to give this to her.”  He threw on his
cassock and grabbed the tree which he believed to be the most magnificent Christmas tree the world had ever known.       

He rushed down to the square and hid amongst the crowd with his hood drawn. He clutched the tree as he took in her movements. The way she twirled around and spun her alluring arms into the sky. The way she kicked up her various skirts to reveal her delicate ankles. He was entranced as always. She was too charming and radiant and to look at her caused Frollo pain but he could not turn his head or move his eyes away for her. Her spell bewitched him and his mind went blank.    

When her dance ended, he was free of the enchantment she unknowably cast. He still gazed at her beauty and then weight of his little Christmas tree called to him and he shifted his focus back to the sapling in his arms. The contrast  between Esmeralda’s beauty and the wretched tree snapped Frollo back into seeing the tree for what it was, a misshapen Christmas reject. It was unworthy to give to one so fair as she. He could now no longer bear to present it to her directly. He quickly set off in the direction she to took everyday when she left the square. He walked a few paces and then he set the pitiful tree down on the ground and hid in an alley. He would wait for her to walk by and hopefully see the tree.

He cursed her under his breath for hating the Christmas tree he had worked so hard to give her even though she hadn’t walked by yet. In his mind she would hate it because it was not perfect. He also knew it was not deserving of her, so a part of his mind was resigned to her hatred but another part said she was vile for rejecting the poor tree. The torture drove him crazy as he hid in a cold dark alley.  

He stood waiting, staring at the helpless tree with a fiery gaze. After several moments he heard the familiar footsteps of his dear Esmeralda. Those delicate quick light footsteps were like music and misery to him. His heart raced as the footsteps grew louder and louder.

Esmeralda finally came into Frollo’s view. He felt his heart stop pumping blood and his breath ceased. She walked dreamily with her little goat next to her. As she walked along, she didn’t seem to notice anything but the fresh air and clouds above. The little goat noticed the tree, stopped before it  and made an alarmed “behhh” sound.

Esmeralda’s daydream stop and she went to her knees “What is it, Djali?” she said ever so sweetly while caressing the little goat’s head. Djali made an another noise in the direction of Frollo’s Christmas tree. Esmeralda turned her lovely head and finally saw it. She looked at it for a few seconds and then stood up. “What a cute Christmas tree,” she said with an angelic smile. She then started to walk off. “Come along, Djali,” she said as she motioned for the little goat to follow. And just like that, the two beautiful creatures were gone.

Frollo was stunned.  “She liked it?” he said. “She liked it without Needles. She liked it without height, she liked it without garlands, bows or lights.” Frollo thought for awhile in the cold dark alley. He then finally realized that maybe Christmas isn’t about the things looking perfect and beautiful but the love and feeling behind them. And some say that Frollo’s obsession for Esmeralda grew three times that day.