by Selma Lagerlöf
Christmas cheers, love, kindness, and a stunning transformation of a thief.
“The whole world was nothing but a big rattrap.”
Answer the following questions:
1) From where did the peddler get the idea of the world being a rattrap?
The peddler led an uneventful and monotonous life. He was homeless and walked around the country selling rattraps, and was left with his own thoughts. One day suddenly, he had fallen into a line of thought. He was naturally thinking about his rattraps and it struck him that the whole world around him – with its lands and seas, its cities and villages – was also a rattrap. Riches, joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing were the baits of this rattrap.
2) Why was he amused by this idea?
The world had never been very kind to him, and never treated him very well. Therefore, it gave him an unwonted (unusual) joy to think ill of the world in this way.
3) Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter?
No, the peddler did not expect that kind of hospitality from the crofter. Wherever the peddler went, he was always met with sour faces, and was mostly chased away. But it was different with the crofter.
4) Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler?
The crofter also lived alone. He was an old man without a wife and children, and was lonely. He was happy to get someone to talk to in his loneliness. He was glad that he had company at least for a night.
5) Why did he show the thirty kronor to the peddler?
When the crofter told the peddler that he had earned thirty kronor in one month by selling milk to the creamery, the peddler seemed incredulous. Therefore, to make him believe, the crofter took out the money from his pouch and showed it to him.
6) Did the peddler respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter?
No, the peddler did not respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter. The crofter had trusted him and showed him his thirty kronor. But the next morning, after the crofter left, the peddler came back, broke the window and stole the thirty kronor.
7) What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap?
After stealing thirty kronor from the crofter, the peddler wanted to get away from the main road to avoid getting caught. So, he went into a forest. However, he was not able to find his way out of it. Soon he realized that he had been walking around in the same part of the forest and was completely lost. There, he thought that he had fallen into a rattrap after having been tempted by the bait of thirty kronor.
8) Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and invite him home?
The ironmaster mistook the peddler for somebody else. He thought that the peddler was one of his old acquaintances, Nils Olof von Stahle, his comrade from a regiment in the army.
9) Why did the peddler decline the invitation?
The peddler declined the invitation for two reasons. First, he was actually trying to get away from people and the mainland as he had stolen thirty kronor from the crofter. Going to the ironmaster’s house would increase the risk of getting caught. Second, the ironmaster had mistaken the peddler for somebody else. If the peddler went to his home, in the proper daylight the next day, after washing himself and wearing new clothes, this confusion may get clear. This would reveal his true identity, and the ironmaster may not be so kind after that.
10) What made the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation?
Edla Willmansson seemed to have more persuasive power. Probably therefore, the ironmaster had sent her later. Further, she talked compassionately and in a friendly manner with the peddler. He felt confidence in her, and hence accepted her invitation.
11) What doubts did Edla have about the peddler?
Looking at the way the peddler was hesitating, Edla noticed that he was afraid. She thought that either he had stolen something or he had escaped from jail.
12) When did the ironmaster realize his mistake?
The previous night, the ironmaster had seen the peddler in rag clothes, he was unclean and the only light there was of the furnace. But the next morning on Christmas Eve, when the peddler had cleansed himself, bathed, cut his hair and shaved, the ironmaster saw him in broad daylight. At this time, he realized his mistake.
13) What did the peddler say in his defence when it was clear that he was not the person the ironmaster had thought he was?
The peddler at first said that he had never lied about anything. He had just played along with the confusion. It was the ironmaster who was mistaken. Further, he was unwilling to come at his home, but it was the ironmaster who had insisted, and even sent his daughter to convince him. The peddler also offered that nothing had got so bad, and he would get back in his own clothes and leave.
14) Why did Edla still entertain the peddler even after she knew the truth about him?
Edla Willmansson was kinder and more compassionate than her father. Both of them had felt glad that they had company during this Christmas. It was them who had offered the peddler some Christmas joy. Edla thought that it would be unfair now to tell him to leave. Further, she felt sad for the peddler as well. He would have been going around the country alone, selling rattraps with those rags on, and nobody would offer him anything. It would be a nice thing if he enjoyed Christmas this time.
15) Why was Edla happy to see the gift left by the peddler?
Edla had intervened and even stood against her father to keep the peddler at their home. She had put her trust in the peddler. At the church, when they came to know about the true identity of the peddler, Edla felt her trust to be broken. They expected that he would have taken away everything from their home as well. But when they returned and realized that the peddler had not taken away anything, but left a gift, Edla felt relieved that her trust was not broken, but it was rewarded.
16) Why did the peddler sign himself as Captain von Stahle?
The peddler had got a very nice hospitality from Edla and her father. Apart from them and the crofter, nobody had ever treated him so nicely. With such love, respect and compassion, the peddler’s heart had changed. He was a different person now. He had become honest. He did not want Edla and the ironmaster to remember him as a thief, but as a respectable man they had thought him to be. Therefore, he signed himself as Captain von Stahle when he left a rattrap as a gift and returned the stolen thirty kronor.
Important value-based questions:
· How the characters of the ironmaster and Edla Willmansson are different? What effects do they have on the transformation of the peddler?
· Love, respect, compassion and a kind treatment can change anyone no matter how bad a person is. Discuss this with reference to the transformation of the peddler in the story The Rattrap.
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