English (Core) · Ch 4 — The Rattrap
Summary of the Lesson
Summary of the Lesson
The peddler and his rattrap philosophy
The story follows a poor, homeless vagabond who wanders the Swedish countryside selling small wire rattraps that he makes himself, keeping body and soul together by begging and, when hunger drives him, by petty theft. His life is joyless and lonely, and to comfort his bitter mind he has developed a curious idea: the whole world, he thinks, is one enormous rattrap. Its riches, food, shelter, warmth and pleasures are merely bait, set out to tempt people; and the instant a person is drawn towards these good things, the world, like a rattrap, snaps shut and closes over them. He finds a sour satisfaction in this thought, because the world has never been kind to him.
The night with the old crofter
One evening the peddler seeks shelter and is welcomed into the cottage of a lonely old crofter, a former farmhand living by himself. Starved of company, the old man treats his guest generously, sharing his supper and tobacco, playing cards with him, and confiding proudly that his cow's milk has earned him thirty kronor that month. He even takes the money — three ten-kronor notes — from a pouch and shows it off before hanging the pouch back on the wall. The next morning, after the trusting crofter has left for his work, the peddler breaks in, steals the thirty kronor, and slinks away.
Lost in the forest — caught in his own trap
Afraid of being caught on the public road, the peddler plunges into a large, dark forest to avoid detection. But the wood is confusing and endless, and he soon loses his way completely, stumbling in circles as night falls. Exhausted and despairing, he reflects grimly that his own theory has come true for him: he took the bait of the stolen money and has now been snapped shut inside the great rattrap of the world, unable to escape.
The ironmaster's mistaken welcome
At length the peddler hears the regular thumping of a hammer and follows the sound to a nearby ironworks, where he is allowed to rest by the warm furnace. Late that night the owner, the ironmaster, comes through on his rounds and, in the dim firelight, mistakes the ragged stranger for an old regimental comrade named Nils Olof. Warmly, he insists that his old friend come home with him for Christmas. The peddler, hoping perhaps for money, does not correct the error but declines the invitation; only when the ironmaster's daughter is sent to persuade him does he finally agree to go.
Edla Willmansson's kindness
At the manor, in good light and after a bath and fresh clothes, the ironmaster realises his mistake and, angry at being deceived, wants to throw the stranger out. But his gentle daughter, Edla Willmansson, intervenes. She has noticed the man's fear and misery, and she insists that a guest invited for Christmas should be treated kindly and allowed to stay, whoever he really is. Her calm, non-judgemental compassion — she treats him as a human being deserving of warmth rather than as a suspected vagrant — is something the peddler has never before experienced.