Prose - 4. The Rattrap

One day the peddler was fallen into a line of thought, as he was thinking naturally of his rattraps and then he suddenly struck by an idea that the whole world i.e., lands and seas, its cities and villages was nothing but a big rattrap. It existed only to set baits for people. It offered riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing in the same manner as rattrap offer cheese and pork. As soon as someone let himself be tempted the bait, he finds himself trapped.

The peddler believed that the world is rattrap designed to trap people into it. As the world had never been kind to him, it gave him some kind of unwonted joy to think ill of it. Hence, he was amused by this idea as he thought about the people who were already caught in the trap and others who are circling around the bait.

No, the peddler had never expected the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter. He actually expected sour faces when he knocked on the door to ask shelter for the night. Instead of making sour faces crofter was happy to get someone to talk to about his loneliness. Immediately crofter put the porridge pot on the fire and gave peddler a supper and also a big slice from his tobacco. Finally, he entertained stranger by playing a game of cards “Majolis” until bedtime.

Note: Here stranger refers to peddler as he is stranger for crofter.

The crofter was the lonely fellow who lived on his own in a little grey cottage. He had no wife or children, no one to give him a company. So, when one day peddler went he at doorstep asking for a night shelter, he was happy to find someone to talk to him after a long. With this, he forgot about his boredom and monotonous life and mixes him up talking with peddler. This is the reason he was so talkative and friendly with peddler.

When crofter was telling about her cow peddler proudly that his cow gave him enough milk and supports him financially. He told peddler that he had got thirty kroner last month as a payment for supplying milk to the creamery. But still, peddler seems doubtful about it. So, in order to assure peddler, he showed thirty kroner to the peddler.

Of course not, the old crofter was a kind man and that’s why he gladly allowed the stranger peddler to stay in his cottage for a night. He not only allowed him to stay but he also served him with supper and tobacco and amused him with the game of cards. He showed him thirty kroner from the pouch he received in payment for supplying his cow’s milk. They both left the cottage at the same time. But after half an hour later the peddler came, smashed the window frame, and took out the thirty kroner from the pouch.

Thus, the peddler did not respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter.

After stealing the crofter’s money, peddler realized that first of all he dare not to continue to walk on the public highway as he felt that it is not safe. So, he turned off the road and went into the woods i.e., forest. After sometimes in a day he realized that it was a big and confusing forest which he had gotten into. He tried, to be sure, to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth so strangely. He walked and walked without coming to the end of the wood, and finally, he realized that he had only been walking around in the same part of the forest. All at once he recalled his thoughts about the world and the rattrap and now he found himself fallen into a rattrap. The rattrap peddler thus realized that he had fallen into the rattrap from which he might not be able to escape.

The ironmaster of the Ramsjo iron works watched both night and day work at the mill. When he came at nightly rounds of inspection, he saw a ragged fellow near the furnace. He walked close up to him, looked him over very carefully. Ironmaster made a picture in his mind and mistook peddler as an old regimental comrade, Captain Von Stahle. He addressed a stranger as” Nils Olaf.” It seems to ironmaster that the man had fallen on bad days and he wanted to help him out getting his health better so Ironmaster invited peddler on his home on Christmas celebration.

As ironmaster mistook peddler as an old regimental comrade and invited him home. The peddler declined the invitation because firstly he was afraid that he had not confessed that he is not a regimental comrade and secondly he was carrying money he had stolen from the crofter. He knew that if Ironmaster will come to know about his identity, he would be arrested. Therefore for him going to the manor house is like walking into lion’s den.

In the given story, it seems that Edla Williamson had a better power of persuasion. She looked at the peddler and knew that he was afraid. So she assured him that no harm would come to him and he would be allowed to leave just as freely as he came. Her friendly manner made the peddler feel confidence and safety with her and so he accepted her invitation.

When Edla went to the iron mill to fetch the peddler, she noticed that he was frightened. She had doubts that the peddler had stolen something or had escaped prison. His appearance and behavior also left her in doubts whether he was actually an educated man, as claimed by her father.

The ironmaster realized his mistake the next day when the peddler turned up at breakfast. The valet had bathed the peddler, cut his hair, shaved him and given him clothes. The ironmaster realised that he had been deceived in recognizing the person because of the uncertain reflection of the furnace, the previous night.

The ironmaster came to know the reality about the peddler the next morning. The peddler in his defense explained that he never pretended to be what he was not. He showed himself as a poor trader. He only desired to sleep in the forge for the night. He had declined the ironmaster’s invitation again and again.

Edla had a kind and sympathetic heart that was still having mercy for that poor peddler. She requested her father to allow him to spend one day with them. Her principles did not allow her to throw this man out of her house on the Christmas Eve especially when they had already promised him a “Christmas cheer.” Therefore, even after knowing the truth, Edla wanted to entertain the peddler.

When Edla opened the package of the gift left by the peddler she felt very happy. She found a small rattrap with three wrinkled ten kronor notes and a letter addressed to her. He had left the thirty kroner for its rightful owner. He was not a thief but his situations made him do so. She was happy to see that he had changed himself and realized his mistake.

The peddler was a vagabond. When he was invited by the iron master mistaking him for Captain Von Stahle, and he was treated as real captain. He was received with a lot of respect and was treated very well even when the truth was known by Edla had transformed him completely. Thus before leaving their house peddler left a Christmas present for Edla and wrote a letter signing himself as “Captain Von Stahle.”

Peddler was a man who went around selling small rattraps of wire. He was leading a sad and monotonous life of a vagabond. He knocked at the door of the cottage of the crofter who turned out to be an old man without wife and children. He showed his kindness and hospitality towards him which the peddler had not expected. But the peddler stole his thirty kroner. Thus he betrayed the confidence reposed in him by the crofter.

The ironmaster, thinking him as an old acquaintance Captain Von Stahle, showed kindness to him and invited him to spend the Christmas evening with him. But the peddler thought that if he would say that he is the one whom the ironmaster is thinking, then he would get some more kroner.

Edla Willmansson requested the peddler to go to her home in a very compassionate and friendly manner. He then decided to accept the invitation. But while he was riding the manor house, he felt very guilty about whatever he did. So he decided to correct his mistake. He did that by leaving a gift for Edla in which there were the thirty kroner which he had theft from the crofter's house. He had written in the note to return the money of crofter back.

The ironmaster misunderstood the peddler for an old acquaintance, whereas his daughter could make out that the man was afraid, which was suggestive of him having stolen something. Though the father and the daughter express compassion for the vagabond both do so for different reasons. The ironmaster was sure to help the vagabond get over his tramp manners because he had mistaken him as his old comrade. The daughter, however, wishes to feed him and welcome him in spite of knowing that he was not Captain Von Stahle. The father acts casually and invites him without confirming the stranger’s identity. On realizing his mistake he wants peddler to get out the home Edla, on the other hand, shows a strong sense of observation. She rightly judges him to be a tramp without any education. She persuades her father to let him stay because they had promised him Christmas cheer.

The first instance is that of the crofter’s hospitality to the peddler. The rattrap peddler, expecting he will not be allowed to stay for a night in a cottage but conversely surprised at the friendly behavior of the crofter. The peddler was also surprised at the sudden invitation given by the ironmaster, who was himself shocked to realize his mistake in recognizing the peddler, the next day. Another unexpected reaction, for both the peddler and the ironmaster, is Edla’s consent to seek peddler’s presence for Christmas. However, the most unexpected reaction is the peddler when he leaves the package and the letter for Edla, showing appreciation to the girl’s hospitality and respect for her.

Edla Williamson treated the peddler in a friendly manner. She was nice and kind to her. She mediate on his behalf when her father was about to turn him out of his house. She still entertained the peddler even after knowing the truth about him. She welcomed him in Christmas present and invited him to spend the next Christmas with them. Her love and understanding made peddler talk to inner soul and he changed his ways.

The peddler, thinking of his rattraps, considered that the whole world was nothing but a big rattrap. Its only purpose was to set baits for people. It offered riches and joys, shelter and food, heat, and clothing, exactly as the rattrap offered cheese and pork, and as soon as one lets oneself be tempted by the bait, it closed in, bringing everything to an end. After the peddler stole the crofter's money, he lost his way in the forest. Then, once again, he thought about the world and the rattrap. It was trapping him now. He had let himself be fooled by a temptation and had been caught. The forest, with its undergrowth, closed in upon him like a prison from which he could never escape. The peddler also told the ironmaster that the whole world was nothing but a big rattrap. All the good things that were offered were nothing but cheese rind and bits of pork, set out to drag people into trouble. None escaped one person Jails into the trap one day and the other the next day. The metaphor of the rattrap highlight the human predicament when in the end, the peddler left the rattrap as a Christmas present and wrote in his letter which is for Elda considering himself as rat and said that this present was from a rat that would have been caught in this world's rattrap had he not been treated respectfully and kindly as a captain.

The peddler doesn’t come across as a humorous person, although one can locate a subtle sense of humour in the way he thinks about the world as being a giant rattrap. He is singularly pleased by this thought of his because it provides him with the opportunity of thinking ‘ill’ of the world that is not kind to him. It is clearly visible that whenever he gets caught unaware, in the web of deceit spun by his scheming mind, he hides behind the thought that the world is a rattrap and him merely a prey. Thus, he lightens the mood and theme of the story and makes us endear him.

From the beginning, the rattrap seller is shown as a person who is surrounded by poor circumstances and not of an evil character. The peddler had to choose beggary and stealing because his business is not profitable enough to make both ends meet. His condition of poverty does not allow him to be fully a good person. Moreover, we find that he lacks having someone in his life that makes him move on the right path he is lonely and helpless. The sympathy is justified because, in the end, we find out that the peddler is capable of appreciating because he showed his kind part. When he is treated with respect, he reciprocates the same in the best way he can. This shows that he has a quality of a good person.

Rattrap deals with the issues of human loneliness and the need to bond with others. Not only the peddler but also other characters like the crofter, the ironmaster, and Edla emphasize this fact. The peddler’s conscience had left him because he had been lonely in his predicament, for a long time. But Edla’s kindness and hospitality changed him. The crofter, on the other hand, is a lonely fellow whose craving for company leads him to give shelter to a vagabond, and he ends up getting robbed. Even, the ironmaster and his daughter suffer from loneliness. They crave company on Christmas Eve and are excited when they get the opportunity to serve a guest.

Yeah, I have known about a story where a good deed or an act of kindness has changed a person’s view of the world. This was a story of two classmates Anuj and Arpit. This was the first day when they had taken admission in Class 11th in a new school and coincidently they are allotted with sharing the same bench. They both had a great conversation on the first of class. On the second day when Anuj went to a class and went to have a seat near his friend, Arpit did not allow him to sit beside him. Then Anuj went to back seat of a class, and there he got one more new friend Priya, while talking with her Anuj asked Priya, “Do you know why Ankit is not talking to me,” Priya replied that I listened that someone was telling him you are a poor guy and belong to a family which is not good in its financial condition. So Arpit said that guy who was telling about that he will not talk to you as you are a poor guy. Anuj was very sad that day but time heals his sorrow and he was a good friend of Priya. One day Arpit was met with an accident and Anuj was the one who had taken him to the hospital for a cure. After coming into his consciousness Arpit apologized to Anuj for what he did.

This is one of the stories which changed the Arpit’s view of the world, now he will never discriminate between person either being rich or poor being at any place in the world.

Moral of the story: We should always respect each other

The story is told in the form of a fairy tale with a happy ending. The narrative is interesting with many surprises and attention-grabbing dialogues. The twists and the unexpected reactions of the characters often astonish the reader making the story entertaining. However, the author has carefully managed to weave philosophical elements into the storyline. The rattrap peddler’s comparison of the whole world with a giant rattrap makes this an interesting commentary on how such people end up getting trapped in the difficult situation. It also showcases how goodness and kindness shown by some people can change others’ perspective.

Other words are lurch, stumble, slog, hike, and clump, traipse and stomp.