Chapter 4 — The Rattrap

'The Rattrap' is a short story by Selma Lagerlöf about a vagabond peddler of wire rattraps who lives by begging and petty thievery. He believes the whole world is a rattrap that sets baits—riches, shelter, and food—to ensnare people. After stealing thirty kronor from a hospitable crofter, getting lost in a forest, and finding refuge at Ramsjö Ironworks, he is mistaken for a former army officer by the ironmaster. The ironmaster's daughter Edla Willmansson treats him with unconditional compassion, and this kindness moves him to return the stolen money and sign a farewell letter as 'Captain von Stahle', signifying his moral transformation.

While thinking about his rattraps one day, the peddler is struck by the idea that 'the whole world about him — the whole world with its lands and seas, its cities and villages — was nothing but a big rattrap.' Just as a rattrap uses cheese and pork as bait, the world offers 'riches and joys, shelter and food, heat and clothing' to tempt people, and 'as soon as anyone let himself be tempted to touch the bait, it closed in on him.' The metaphor becomes literal when the peddler, after stealing the crofter's money, gets lost in the forest and thinks: 'The whole forest, with its trunks and branches, its thickets and fallen logs, closed in upon him like an impenetrable prison.'

The crofter is an old man without wife or child who had once worked at Ramsjö Ironworks and now survives on milk money from his cow—thirty kronor the previous month. He gives the peddler shelter, porridge, tobacco, and plays cards with him. Out of pride, he shows the peddler his leather pouch with three ten-kronor bills hanging on the window frame. The next morning he locks his door and leaves; half an hour later the peddler returns, smashes a pane, and takes the pouch. The crofter's unguarded generosity makes him a victim of the very trap the peddler had theorised about.

The ironmaster came into the forge on one of his nightly rounds of inspection and saw the peddler warming himself near the furnace. He examined him closely and, in the uncertain light of the glowing furnace, believed he recognised an old regimental comrade. He called out 'But of course it is you, Nils Olof!' and referred to him as 'Captain von Stahle'. The peddler did not correct him immediately because he thought the ironmaster 'might perhaps throw him a couple of kronor.' The next morning, in full daylight, it was 'impossible to mistake him for an old acquaintance', and the ironmaster confronted him.

The peddler had the stolen thirty kronor in his pocket and was afraid. He thought that going up to the manor house 'would be like throwing himself voluntarily into the lion's den.' He only wanted to sleep in the forge and sneak away. The ironmaster assumed he was embarrassed about his ragged clothing, but the real reason was the stolen money and fear of being caught.

Edla Willmansson is the ironmaster's daughter who comes to the forge after her father fails to persuade the peddler. She is described as 'not at all pretty, but seemed modest and quite shy.' Although she suspects he may have stolen something or escaped from jail, she assures him: 'You may be sure, Captain, that you will be allowed to leave us just as freely as you came.' When her father discovers the deception the next morning and orders him to leave, Edla intercedes and insists he stay: 'I don't think we ought to chase away a human being whom we have asked to come here, and to whom we have promised Christmas cheer.' Her unconditional kindness is what ultimately triggers the peddler's transformation.

The peddler spent Christmas Eve at the manor sleeping peacefully, 'as though for many years he had not been able to sleep as quietly and safely as here.' Edla's compassion—treating him with dignity, defending him before her father, and giving him a warm Christmas—moved him deeply. When he left the next morning he took nothing from the house. He left behind a rattrap containing the three wrinkled ten-kronor notes and a letter addressed to Edla: 'Since you have been so nice to me all day long, as if I was a captain, I want to be nice to you, in return, as if I was a real captain.' He asked her to return the money to the crofter on the roadside. Edla's goodness gave him the 'power to clear himself' from the world's rattrap.

The story's unit theme, as stated by the textbook, is 'the trap of material benefit that most human beings are prone to fall into', and the sub-theme is 'the human tendency to redeem oneself from dishonest ways.' Selma Lagerlöf's stories consistently embody 'a belief that the essential goodness in a human being can be awakened through understanding and love.' The rattrap metaphor illustrates how temptation ensnares people, while Edla's selfless kindness demonstrates that genuine compassion can release even those who have been caught.

The ironmaster had originally addressed the peddler as 'Captain von Stahle', the identity of his supposed regimental comrade. In his farewell letter the peddler signs himself 'Captain von Stahle' deliberately: 'The rattrap is a Christmas present from a rat who would have been caught in this world's rattrap if he had not been raised to captain, because in that way he got power to clear himself.' By adopting this honourable title in the act of returning the money, the peddler symbolically becomes the captain—a man of integrity—that Edla had treated him as throughout Christmas.

On Christmas morning the ironmaster and Edla drove to early church service. 'At church she had learned that one of the old crofters of the ironworks had been robbed by a man who went around selling rattraps.' Her father sarcastically remarked: 'Yes, that was a fine fellow you let into the house.' When they returned home, however, the valet told them the man had gone without taking anything and had left a package for Miss Willmansson—the rattrap gift with the stolen money and letter inside.

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