Soon enough Christmas Eve comes along. Reinhard spends his time with his fellow students in the Ratskeller, where he shows interest to a girl playing the zither accompanied by a fiddler. After acting coy, she eventually sings for Reinhard. However, he offends her by heading home in a rush after receiving a message from an arrival. There Reinhard finds a parcel. Excited, he looks at the parcel's content. Besides a cake and some personal items the parcel also contains letters from Elizabeth and his mother. In her letter Elisabeth complains about the death of the bird which Reinhard gave her as a present. Furthermore, she reproaches him for not writing fairy tales for her anymore. He is overwhelmed by a desire to return home. Immediately, he writes letters to Elisabeth and his mother after taking a walk, during which he gives half of the cake to a beggar girl.