The chapter opens with a description of the poor villagers who live in a hut in the forest. They are not mice, they say, and they do not have the money to buy food for themselves and their family. They do not even have a donkey to help them with their daily chores. The cat, named Karl, is not much older than the villagers, but he is lazy and does not take care of them very well. He asks the cat to help him catch some mice, but the cat does not want to do so because he is hungry. He tells the cat that he would like a hat for the sum of 600d, and the cat says that he is neither wealthy nor a member of nobility. The count, who has come to see them, welcomes the villagers as his daughter has also come with him. He says that they had no idea of the king's plans to visit them, and that they should excuse their impropriety by saying that they were not aware that the king would visit them. Karl tells the count that he will not tell the king what he thinks he will live his life the way he did before, and so he will marry the princess and move to the kingdom of his father