One of the most horrifying and tragic of human practices is the pre-meditated crippling or disfigurement of children for the purpose of attracting money. Such things are said to be done to this day in India and other countries where begging is widespread and crippled children earn more.
In seventeenth century Europe the term Comprachicos came to describe a cruel subculture of nomads who deformed children in order to create 'freaks' to provide morbid amusement at carnivals or in the courts of royalty.
    Alexander Dumas took the Comprachicos' practice of muzzling the faces of some victims as the theme of The Man in the Iron Mask.
    After Victor Hugo's novels The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables came The Man Who Laughs , in which the French author tells the story of Gwynplaine, who as a child is abducted and sold to Camprachicos.
    At the age of two, the boy is disfigured with the corners of his mouth cut to create a constant smile. He grows up to discover he is an heir to nobility, but rather than be wealthy and alone, he follows the woman who loved him in spite of his deformity .