NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 4 The Rattrap Solutions to each chapter is provided in the list so that you can easily browse through different chapters NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 4 The Rattrap and select need one. NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 4 The Rattrap Question Answers Download PDF. NCERT English Class 12 Solutions.
NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 4 The Rattrap
Also, you can read the NCERT book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Book guidelines. CBSE Class 12 English Solutions are part of All Subject Solutions. Here we have given NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 4 The Rattrap Notes, NCERT Class 12 English Textbook Solutions for All Chapters, You can practice these here.
The Rattrap
Chapter: 4
PROSE SECTION
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS ANSWERS
THINK AS YOU READ
Q. 1. Why did the peddler decline the invitation?
Or
Why did the peddler decline the invitation of the iron master?
Ans. The peddler was passing a very hard time. He looked alarmed and troubled. He had come there to pass the night so he could not accompany him to his home for Christmas.
He had thirty kronor which he had stolen from the cottage of the old crofter. Going to the manor house would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the lion’s den. The peddler thought that the invitation was perhaps a bait for him and he did not want to be caught in. So he declined the invitation.
Q. 2. The crofter can be called a good host. Why?
Or
Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler?
Ans. The crofter allowed the peddler to stay for the night in his cottage. He welcomed the peddler with a smiling face. He was an old man without wife or child. Therefore, he became happy to get someone to talk to in his loneliness. He served him supper and gave him tobacco. He played ‘Majolis’ the game of cards to entertain himself also. He got more friendly with the peddler by showing him the money kept in the pouch.
Q. 3. Why did the peddler derive pleasure from his idea of the world as a rattrap?
Or
From where did the peddler get the idea of the world being a rattrap?
Or
Why does the peddler think that the world was a rattrap?
Ans. One day the peddler went round selling his rattraps. All of a sudden he was left to his own meditations. He thought that the whole world about him was nothing but a rattrap. Its lands, seas, cities, villages existed only to set baits for people. It offered riches, joys, shelter, food, heat and clothing to the people as the rattrap offered cheese and pork for the rats. As soon as anyone got tempted to touch the bait, it closed him in and thus everything came to an end for him.
Q. 4. Did the peddler respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter?
Or
How did the peddler betray the confidence reposed in him by the crofter in the rattrap?
Or
How does the peddler respond for the hospitality shown to him by the crofter?
Ans. Of course not. The old crofter was a man of liberal beliefs. So he gladly allowed the stranger to stay in his cottage for the night. Not only that, he served him with supper and tobacco for his pipe, but amused him with the game of cards also. He showed him the thirty kronor from the pouch he received in payment for the cow’s milk last month. But the peddler was a wretch-fellow. Both left the cottage at the same time. But half an hour later the peddler came, smashed the window frame and took out the thirty kronor notes from the pouch.
Thus, the peddler breached the confidence reposed in him by the crofter.
Q. 5. What made the peddler accept Edla Willmansson’s invitation?
Or
Having rejected the ironmaster’s invitation, why did the peddler accept the one extended by his daughter?
Or
Did the stranger agree to go to the ironmaster’s house? Why or why not?
Or
The peddler declined the invitation of the ironmaster but accepted the one from Edla. Why?
Ans. When the ironmaster failed to persuade the stranger to accompany home he sent his daughter Edla Willmansson to bring him home.
She went to the stranger and lifted his hat and told that she was Edla.
She said, “I am so sorry captain, that you are having such a hard time.” She looked at him mercifully and assured, that he would be allowed to leave them just as freely as he had come. She requested to stay with them over Christmas Eve. Her friendly manners aroused confidence in the peddler and he accepted his invitation.
Q. 6. Why did the peddler sign himself as Captain Von Stahle?
Ans. The peddler was mistaken as Captain Von Stahle (Nils Olof) by the ironmaster in the forge. The things took a sharp turn when he was invited to the manor house to stay with them on the Christmas Eve.
He thought that he was allowing himself in the lion’s den. But the ironmaster’s daughter showed him hospitality and requested her father to have the Christmas in his company.
She wanted him to stay with them and enjoy the Christmas cheer as promised, enjoy a day of peace with them just once in the whole year. It was her friendly, loving and sympathetic behavior that awakened the essential goodness in the stranger. He was treated as if he had been a real captain. So he decided to treat her as a real captain did. Before leaving their house he left a Christmas present for her and wrote a letter signing himself as ‘Captain Von Stahle’. Thus Edla showered her sympathetic attitude on him that turned the stranger to pose as “Captain Von Stahle.”
Q. 7. Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter?
Ans. No, the peddler had never expected the kind of hospitality that he received from the crofter. He expected sour faces when he knocked the door and requested for the night shelter. But the crofter was happy to get someone to talk to in his loneliness. He immediately put the porridge pot on the fire and gave the peddler supper. Then he gave him a big slice of tobacco for the stranger’s pipe to smoke. Finally, he entertained the stranger by playing the game of cards “Majolis” until bed time.
Q. 8. Why was he amused by the idea?
Ans. The peddler was amused by the idea that the whole world around him was nothing but a big rattrap. The riches, happiness, food, clothing and shelter etc., were like baits to trap the people in. He thought of his life dull and sad life. But he was satisfied that he was not the one who was caught in the vicious circle of poverty. There were many more like him who were still circling around the bait. This idea amused him a lot.
Q. 9. What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap?
Ans. After, stealing money from the old crofter, the man was pleased with his smartness. He dared not to walk on the public highway. So he turned off into the forest to avoid being caught.
It was a big and confusing forest. The paths turned back and forth so strangely. He walked, and walked the whole day but he realized that he had only been walking around in the same part of the forest.
Suddenly he recollected his ideas about the world and the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. He had let himself be tempted by a bait and had been caught. The whole forest, had closed in upon him like an impenetrable prison from which he could not escape.
Q. 10. Why did he show the thirty kronor to the peddler?
Ans. The crofter lived alone in the roadside cottage. Therefore, he was happy to get the peddler to talk to in his cottage. He gave him supper, tobacco for his pipe and played cards with him until bedtime.
The old man informed him of his days of prosperity at Ramsjo Ironworks. He told him of his cow that supported him now and he received thirty kronor in payment last month.
He showed the stranger the thirty kronor picking out of the pouch hung at the window frame. He stuffed them back and put it as usual. He did so to test the integrity of the peddler. In other words it was a bait for the peddler to verify his honesty.
Q. 11. Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and invite him home?
Ans. The ironmaster of the Ramsjo Iron-works watched both night and day that the work at the mill was being done well. On his nightly round for inspection, he saw the ragged fellow near the furnace. He walked near to him to look closely. Considering him as an old acquaintance he called him “Nils Olof.” He told him that there was none at home. It would be more pleasant with him to have him for Christmas. So he spoke.kindly to the peddler and invited him home.
Q. 12. What doubts did Edla have about the peddler?
Ans. At the pursuastion of the ironmaster his daughter Edla Willmansson came to bring.him home. On reaching the forge, she went up to him and lifted his hat. He jumped up suddenly and looked quite frightened. Telling her name, she felt sorry for the captain for having such a hard time.
She looked at him mercifully and noticed that the man was afraid. She thought that the man had stolen something or else he had escaped from jail. Moreover there was nothing in him to show that he was an educated man. Of course she was right.
Q. 13.When did the ironmaster realize his mistake?
Ans. The ironmaster came into the dining room for breakfast with the satisfaction that he had met his old regimental comrade by chance.
He assured her that once the stranger got cleaned and well-dressed up, she would see something different.
Just as he said this, the door opened and the stranger entered truly cleaned and nicely dressed up. The ironmaster looked at him with puckered brow. He realized soon that he made a mistake in taking the stranger as an old acquaintance in the reflection of the furnace. He couldn’t mistake him, for his old regimental friend. He felt cheated and realized his mistake.
Q. 14. Why did Edla still entertain the peddler even after she knew the truth about him?
Ans. When the ironmaster came to know that he mistook the stranger as an old regimental comrade, he ordered him to get out at once. Just as the stranger was opening the door, Edla didn’t want him to go. So she went and closed the door.
That morning she had felt very happy as she was going to make things for the poor hungry wretch homelike and Christmassy. She could not think of missing this cheerful chance all at once. She revealed all her sympathetic thoughts for him who was always chased away throughout the year. She wanted to let him enjoy a day of peace with them there just one in the whole year.
Finally, she could not think they ought to chase away a human being whom they had to stay with them and promised a Christmas cheer. She wanted to be kind, sympathetic and friendly with the stranger on Christmas Eve. She took hold of the stranger by hand and led him to the dining table.
Q. 15. What did the peddler say in his defense when it was clear that he was not the person the ironmaster had thought he was?
Ans. When the ironmaster understood that he mistook the stranger fellow as an old acquaintance, he asked the stranger in a loud voice, “What does this mean?”
The stranger did not try to make any excuse. He said it was not his fault. He never pretended to be anything but a poor trader. He pleaded and begged to be allowed to stay in the forge for the night. He concluded that no harm had been done. He could, at the worst, put on his rags again and go away.
Q. 16. Why was Edla happy to see the gift left by the peddler?
Ans. At the church, Edla Willmanssan learnt that one of the old crofters of the ironworks had been robbed by a man selling rattraps. That was the fellow she had left into her house. Her father thought of the silver spoons left if any in the cupboard. When they returned, their valet informed that the fellow had gone and had taken nothing at all with him. It was a great relief for both the ironmaster and his daughter.
Moreover, the stranger had left a little package for Miss Willmansson as a Christmas gift.
She gave a little cry of joy while opening the gift package and found a small rattrap, three wrinkled ten kronor notes to be handed over to the crofter. The letter praised Edla for her kindness and hospitality at the Christmas Eve. The young girl Edla was happy to receive a reward of her goodness shown to the poor peddler.
