The Rattrap-Questions-Answers-Short-Long Answer-type Qs

The Rattrap-Questions-Answers-Short-Long Answer-type Qs

Q1 What did the peddler sell and how did he make those things?

Ans. The peddler used to sell rat-traps. He made them with wires and he used to get the material from some stores or farms by begging.

Q2. Why was the beggar (the peddler) given to begging and small thievery?

Ans. The peddler was a poor man. He used to sell his rat-traps. Very few people would buy them. Sometimes no one bought his articles. Then he was forced to beg and do some thievery.

Q3. From where did the peddler get the idea of the world being a rattrap? 

Ans. One day he kept thinking deeply about the rat traps which he used to sell. While thinking, suddenly, an idea struck his mind. He thought that the world offered so many things like riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing. His rat trap also offered cheese and pork.

Q4. How does the metaphor of the rattrap serve to highlight the human predicament (difficult situation)?

Ans. Both the rat-trap and the world offer baits. In the rat-trap, rats are attracted to eat the cheese or pork kept as bait. As soon as it touches the bait, the door is closed at once. The world also offers so many baits like riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing for human beings. They are attracted to enter the beautiful world of the matter. They are also trapped in it.

Q5. Where did the peddler seek shelter one evening? 2011

Ans. One dark evening, the peddler saw a gray cottage by the roadside. He knocked at the door.  The old man who lived alone there opened it and he was very happy to receive the guest.

Q6. Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter?

 Ans. No, the old peddler had never hoped to receive that kind of hospitality in the hut. In the past, he always received cold looks and bad faces of people while requesting for shelter.

Q6. How did the old crofter entertain the peddler as a guest?

Ans. Firstly, the old crofter offered the poor peddler shelter affectionately. Then he prepared porridge and gave him supper (evening meal). He also gave him a slice of tobacco roll. Finally both of them played the game called ‘mjolis’ until bedtime.

Q7. Why did the crofter receive the peddler so warmly and show his money to the stranger like the peddler?  

Ans. The old crofter was living in his cottage alone without his wife and children. He thought to give shelter to a poor man and also to pass his time by talking and entertaining the guest.  He was a credulous (one who believes people easily) person. He also told the peddler about his income of three ten kronor bills  and also showed to him the money he had in his leather pouch.

Q7. How did the peddler rob the poor crofter?

Ans. The peddler had seen the crofter putting his money. So the next morning the rat trap seller said good bye to the crofter and left the house. After half an hour, the peddler came back to the cottage. He broke open the window pane, took money out of the pouch, put the pouch there and came out with the money in his pocket. 

Q8. What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap?

Ans. The peddler forgot the way in the woods. He found that in that forest the road was leading him to nowhere. He was coming back to the same point after walking a long distance. Then he felt that the stolen money was a big trap for him and he had become its victim.

Q9. Why did the peddler decline the ironmaster’s invitation to come to his home?

Ans. The peddler did not want to invite any trouble. He was also more worried about  keeping the stolen money safe with him. So he declined the ironmaster’s invitation to go to his home.

Q10. Why did the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation?

Ans. Edla showed a lot of affection to the peddler. She requested him to stay with them till Christmas and he could leave when he desired so. She said all that in such a way that it won his confidence. So he accepted her invitation without any hesitation.

Q11. What doubts did Edla have about the peddler?

Ans. When Edla looked at the peddler with her eyes full of affection, she saw that he was afraid. She was at a loss to notice that he did not show any sign of education in his behavior. She at once understood that the man had either stolen something or he had come out of any jail.

Q12. When did the iron-maker realize his mistake?

Ans. In the morning of the next day, the peddler’s hair was cut. His face was shaven off. He took bath and was dressed well. Then in the light of the day, the Captain looked at the peddler. He saw that he was not his old acquaintance, but he was a tramp.

Q13.How did the peddler defend himself for not revealing his true identity?

Ans. The peddler said that he was never posing like a Captain. He was a poor trader.  He had also requested for the shelter at the forge. He also said the he could remove the dress given to him by him.

Q14 Why did Edla entertain the peddler even though she came to know the truth about the peddler?

Ans. Edla was a kind-hearted girl. She knew that it was not the peddler’s fault. He had already refused to come to their house. It was she who had herself gone to take him. Moreover she did not want to send him away at the Christmas Eve. She had prepared eatables to feed him also. So she entertained him.

Q15. Why was Edla happy to see the gift left by the peddler? 

Ans. She was a generous and kind girl. She did not want that her father might call the peddler a dishonest person. When she saw the unique type of gift left by him, she read from the paper and understood all. He was a reformed person. He had left his dishonesty by returning three ten kronor bills to Edla so that the money could be sent to the old crofter.

Q16. What did the peddler write in his letter to Edla?

Ans. The rattrap seller wrote the following lines in his letter to Edla,

“The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in this world’s rattrap if he had not been raised to captain, because in that way he got power to clear himself. “Written with friendship and high regard, “Captain von Stahle.”

Q17. Why did the peddler sign himself as Captain von Stahle?

Ans. The peddler signed himself as Captain von Stahle because he wanted to show that he had truly changed into a better human being. Edla Willmansson had trusted him, treated him with kindness, and invited him home even after knowing he was a stranger. Her warm behaviour awakened the goodness in him.       By signing the letter as Captain von Stahle, he tried to honour Edla’s trust and show that he was now behaving like the honest, brave officer he pretended to be earlier. It was his way of saying that her compassion had transformed him from a poor, guilty peddler into a respectable man in spirit. So, the name symbolises his moral awakening and his desire to live up to the noble image she had of him.

Essay-type Qs. & Ans. (125 to 150 words)

Q1. How does the metaphor of the Rattap serve to highlight the human predicament?

Ans. The predicament of human life is that we all become easy prey to the attraction this world presents before us. Once we are caught in the temptation (attraction) of the worldly things, it is difficult to come out of it. Human desires have no limitation. They keep on increasing till we breathe our last. The rattrap seller’s mind, all of a sudden, starts working on the thought of the world being a big rattrap. He felt amused at the idea that the world also seemed to him like his own rat trap. To catch a rat one has to put a bait of some eatable like cheese or fork. The rat gets attracted by the bait and enters the trap. As soon as it touches the bait, the door of the trap is at once closed for the rat. In the same way, the world also offers us baits like riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing and so many other things. We are also attracted by these baits and remain caught forever.

But, the rattrap seller was wise enough to understand the peril (danger) in entering the big rattrap. So, he understood his own predicament that made him land into trouble. So he came out of it by leaving   three ten kronor bills in a rattrap with a letter for Edla.

Q2.The story has many instances of unexpected reactions from the characters in the story. Describe them.

Ans. The first unexpected reaction the peddler receives is from the Crofter, who readily invites him to come in his house. The rattrap seller was never received with such warmth of feelings as he was received by the crofter. He was also given food to eat, entertainment and shelter to sleep in a cold night.

Then he enters Ramsjo Ironworks, where he was unexpectedly given a haughty nod by the blacksmiths. He had never expected that he would be mistaken as ‘Nils Olof’ by the ironmaster. The next morning, he was told by the same ironmaster to get out of his house. But Edla Williamsons hopefully persuaded her father to let him stay on that auspicious day. He was treated very affectionately by Elda. He was given a new suit to wear and offered delicious dishes to eat Thus we find some incidents occurring unexpectedly in this lesson.

Q3.Copare and contrast the characters or the ironmaster and his daughter Edla Williamsons.

Ans. We notice considerable difference between these two characters. The first strong difference is that of observing human nature. Edla Williamsons’ observation to go deep down in human nature is sharp. She at once understood that the peddler, whom her father mistook for his old acquaintance, a captain, was afraid of something. He had stolen something or else he had escaped from jail.

Another thing we notice about Edla that she is cool minded while her father loses self control over the things he should deal with patience. It is true that he must have felt hurt at the discovery of his mistake of mistaking the poor peddler for his old friend, but he should not have ordered his to get out at once as he was invited to eat with them on the Charismas Eve. Edla shows her patience and succeeds in persuading her father to allow him to stay.

Edla’s father jumps to conclusions at once. That’s why he showed anger at his daughter while returning from the church and declared that the peddler would have escaped by stealing much of the silver (spoons) from the cupboard. But Edla did not say anything as she waited for the proper time to arrive.

Thus the difference between both of them is noticeable.

Q4. How does the peddler interpret the acts of kindness and hospitality shown by the crofter, the ironmaster and his daughter?

Ans. The peddler proves to be a thief after he has stolen the crofter’s 30 kronors. He did not even think for a second that the crofter had given him shelter, fed him with delicious food and entertained him by playing cards. He gave him the status of a guest, but he proved false to him.

The ironmaster showed his hospitality to the peddler until the ironmaster did not come to know about the tramp’s reality. As soon as the truth was revealed to the ironmaster, he showed his impatience to the rattrap-seller. So, in this situation, the sense of gratitude was neutralized due to the rough behavior of Edla’s father.

But Eldla’s affectionate behavior towards the rattrap seller and her hospitality did move his heart. He decided to come out of the big rattrap, of which he had become a victim. Perhaps he did not want to break Edla’s trust. So he wrote a letter of thanks to the family and showed his gratitude as he was raised to the level of a captain and given due regard by her. In addition, he left 30 kronors so that the stolen money could be returned to the right hands.