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The story “The Rattrap’ has many instances of unexpected reactions from the characters to others’ behaviour. One dark evening while walking along the road, the peddler saw a light gray cottage by the roadside. He knocked on the door to ask for shelter for the night. Usually under such circumstances he would meet “the sour faces”. But unexpectedly the owner of the house, the crofter, an old man without wife or child, welcomed him cheerfully. He showered his best hospitality by serving food, playing cards with him and taking care of him in all the possible manner.
Thereafter, the peddler was entrapped in the forest and when he thought that he might not find a way out of the forest, he sought shelter at the Ramsjo ironworks. There unexpectedly the ironmaster came and insisted him to spend the Christmas evening at his home.
The ironmaster mistook him as an old regimental comrade. When the peddler declined his offer, quite unexpectedly Edla, the ironmaster’s daughter came there and pursuaded him to go to their house. There the ironmaster realising that he had mistaken the stranger’s identity and asked him to leave his house immediately. But again unexpectedly Edla in a compassionate manner convinced her father to let him stay for the Christmas in the house.