The evidence that at the time Freud treated Little Hans he was on the verge of formulating the negative oedipal is summarized. Freud seemed to have difficulty recognizing Hans' anger with his mother and his wishes, active and passive, to replace his mother in his father's affections and in his bed. This difficulty is seen as crucial in his failing to recognize a wish that his mother be eliminated in Hans' dream that he had no mother to cuddle with. He saw only the fear of separation. Freud had already noted that dreams of the death of loved persons, when the dreamer is distressed, indicate death wishes, and he had also demonstrated that hysterical symptoms are bisexual in origin in a publication that appeared in the year he treated Hans; nevertheless, he did not bring these insights to bear on his analysis of Hans' phobic symptoms.