Q.Do you think the peddler would have been redeemed if he had not been treated with kindness? What does the story teach us about how we should treat those who have gone astray?

The question asks whether the peddler would have been redeemed without kindness, and what the story teaches about treating those who have gone astray. The story, "The Rattrap," makes it clear that the peddler's transformation is directly triggered by the compassionate treatment he receives from Edla Willmansson. Without her kindness, the peddler would likely have remained a thief and a tramp, continuing his cynical view of the world as a rattrap.

• The peddler's entire worldview is that the world is a rattrap, and he sees himself as a victim of circumstance. He steals from the crofter who trusted him, showing his initial lack of moral restraint.
• Edla's treatment is the turning point. She does not judge him, offers him shelter and food, and treats him with genuine respect and dignity. This kindness awakens his conscience and makes him feel ashamed of his past actions. …

The question asks us to consider a counterfactual: what if the peddler had never met the ironmaster's daughter, Edla, and never been offered a warm meal, a clean bed, and genuine trust? The story's entire arc hinges on this moment of unexpected grace. Before Edla's intervention, the peddler is a hardened, cynical man. He steals money from the old crofter who had shown him simple hospitality, then flees into the forest, feeling trapped and worthless. He even compares himself to a rat caught in a rattrap — a metaphor for his own belief that the world is a trap and he is merely a cunning, doomed creature. This is not a man on the verge of reform; he is a man who has rationalised his own dishonesty as survival.

Now, imagine that instead of Edla's kindness, he had been met with suspicion, turned away, or even handed over to the authorities. The story gives us a clear clue: when the ironmaster first mistakes him for an old comrade, the peddler plays along out of fear and greed. But when the ironmaster later discovers the truth, he is furious and threatens to call the sheriff. At that moment, the peddler's old instincts kick in — he prepares to escape, to lie, to fight. He is still the same rattrap philosopher. It is only Edla's quiet, persistent kindness — her insistence that he stay for Christmas Eve, her refusal to humiliate him even after learning the truth — that breaks through his defences. Without that, he would have slipped back into the forest, both literally and metaphorically.

The story's central teaching is that those who have gone astray are often trapped in a cycle of shame and defiance. They expect punishment, so they armour themselves with lies and cynicism. Kindness disarms that armour. When the peddler leaves the ironmaster's house, he does not simply run away with the stolen money. Instead, he leaves a note and the stolen money, along with a small rattrap as a gift, signed "Captain von Stahle." He has, for the first time, chosen to be honest — not because he was forced, but because someone believed he could be. …