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Question
What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap?
Solution
After stealing the money, the peddler tried to escape through the forest but soon got lost. Left in despair, he recollected his own thoughts on the world being a giant rattrap. A sudden realisation came to him that he had finally got himself caught in the rattrap because he allowed himself to be tempted by the bait, the thirty kronor bills. Similarly, on his way to the ironmaster’s home, he felt himself caught in the trap.
He was again haunted by such thoughts when the ironmaster, on realising the truth about the peddler, threatened to get him arrested. The rattrap seller expressed himself strongly realising that the worldly bait had, once more, tempted and trapped him.
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| “I am thinking of this stranger here,” said Edla. “He walks and walks the whole year long, and there is probably not a single place in the whole country where he is welcome and can feel at home. Wherever he turns he is chased away. Always he is afraid of being arrested and cross-examined. I should like to have him enjoy a day of peace with us here – just one in the whole year.” |
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