Chapter 4 The Rattrap Solutions
Question - 1 : - From where did the. peddler get the idea of the world being a rattrap ?
Answer - 1 : -
The peddler got the idea of the world being a rattrap when he was spontaneously thinking of his rattraps. The peddler made his living by selling small rattraps of wire. He thought that the whole world about him was nothing but a big rattrap.
Question - 2 : - Why was he amused by this idea ?
Answer - 2 : -
The peddler was a vagabond whose life was sad and monotonous. Of course, the world had never been very kind to him. .That is why he was amused by this idea of thinking ill of the world-as a rattrap.
Question - 3 : - Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter ?
Answer - 3 : -
No, the peddler had not expected the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter. It was because he would usually find harsh faces when he knocked the doors of the strangers previously to seek shelter.
Question - 4 : - Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler ?
Answer - 4 : -
The crofter was so talkative and friendly with the peddler because he was leading a lonely life in the cottage. He was an old man who was living there without wife or child. So, he was happy to get someone to talk to in his loneliness.
Question - 5 : - Why did he show the thirty kronor to the peddler ?
Answer - 5 : -
The crofter was making his livelihood by selling milk in his old age. He told the peddler that last month he had received thirty kronor in payment. Thinking that the stranger might not believe this, he showed the wrinkled three ten-kronor bills to him from a leather pouch.
Question - 6 : - Did the peddler respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter ?
Answer - 6 : -
No, the peddler did not respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter. The rattrap peddler robbed the crofter of his thirty kronors by breaking violently the window pane of his cottage.
Question - 7 : - What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap ?
Answer - 7 : -
After stealing the crofter’s money, the rattrap peddler did not think it proper to walk on the public highway. So he turned off the road, into the forost. But he got entrapped in a big and confusing forest. He tried to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back and forth in a strange manner.
He walked and walked without coming to the end of the forest. Finally, he realised that he had only been walking around the same part of the forest. Then he recalled his thoughts about the world and the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. The rattrap peddler thus thought that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap from which he might not be able to escape.
Question - 8 : - Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and ipivite him home ?
Answer - 8 : -
The ironmaster spoke kindly to the peddler because he thought that he was captain and an old regimental comrade who had resigned from the regiment. Thus the ironmaster thought that he was an old acquaintance. That is why the ironmaster invited the peddler to have his company for Christmas.
Question - 9 : - Why did the peddler decline the invitation ?
Answer - 9 : -
The peddler declined the invitation of the ironmaster to go to his house. He had stolen thirty Kronors from the house of the crofter who lived in that area. So the peddler thought that going up to the manor house would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the lion’s den.
Question - 10 : - What made the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation ?
Answer - 10 : -
The peddler accepted Edla Willmansson’s invitation, who was the daughter of the ironmaster. In a very compassionate and friendly manner, Edla Willmansson had won the confidence of the peddler. She told the peddler that he would be allowed to leave just as freely as he would come to their house. She requested him to stay with them only oyer Christmas Eve. Because her genuine and friendly request, the peddler accepted her invitation.