A few days later, the mistress herself visited Hans with a basket of delicious bread, fruit and juice, and a cage with a black bird. Hans was so happy for the gift, but his parents were not. "Rich people cannot think. If Hans cannot take care of the bird, we have to do the troublesome work. In the end, a cat will eat the bird anyway."

A cat often visited the room, but it seemed that it was not interested in the black bird. One afternoon, when Hans was reading the book, the cat was staring at the bird in the cage above a dresser. The cat jumped up to the window frame next to the cage in a breath. Hans worried about the bird, and he tried to throw his fairy tale book at the cat, but it did not reach the cat.

   Hans wielded a bedcover, but it was a vain effort. The cat jumped up to the dresser and dropped the cage to the ground. At the same time, Hans suddenly leaped to his feet from his bed, picked up the cage and shooed the cat away. Hans saw himself holding the cage in his hand. He realized what happened to him and ran out to the road.