The girl went in and began to set the house in order, while the Baba Yaga flew away into the forest, riding in a mortar, urging it along with a pestle, and sweeping away the traces with a broom.
After the witch had gone, the little cat said to the girl, “Give me, I beg of you, a little food, for I am starving with hunger.”
“Here is a little cake; it is all I have, but I will give it to you in Heaven’s name.”
The little cat took the cake and ate it all up, every crumb.
“Now listen,” said the cat. “I know why you are here, and that you are searching for the little boy named Peter. He is in a cage behind the house, but you can do nothing to help him now. Wait until after dinner, when the Baba Yaga goes to sleep. Then rub her eyes with pitch so that she cannot get them open, and you may escape with the child through the forest.”
The girl thanked the little cat and promised to do in all things as it bade her.
When the Baba Yaga came home, “Well, have you been peeping and prying?” she asked.
“That I have not,” answered the girl.
The Baba Yaga sat down, ate everything there was on the table, bones and all. Then she lay down and went to sleep. She snored terribly.
The girl took some pitch and smeared the witch’s eyelids with it. Then she went out to where Peter was and let him out of the cage, and they ran away through the forest together.