The Rattrap NCERT Text Book Questions and Answers
Notice these expressions in the text. Infer their meaning from the
context,
(i) keep body and soul together.
(ii) hunger gleamed in his eyes
(iii) plods along the road
(iv) unwonted joy
(v) impenetrable prison
(vi) nodded a haughty consent
(vii) eased his way .
(viii) fallen, into a line of thought
(ix) things have gone downhill
Answer:
(i) keep body and soul together : Peddler’s bussiness of selling
rattraps was not profitable. So to keep body and soul together he
had to resort to begging as well as to steal in a small way to satiate
his hunger.
(ii) hunger gleamed in his eyes ; he was so hungry that the feeling
of his being hungry shone with dim light from his eyes itself.
(iii) unwonted joy : means the unaccustomed or unusual joy.
(iv) nodded a haughty consent : gave a nod of acceptance in an
arrogant manner.
(v) fallen into a line of thought : started thinking of a single
significant thought.
(vi) things have gone downhill: the situation or the conditions of his
life have been badly deteriorated.
(vii) plods along the road : he walked laborously along the road.
(viii) impenetrable prison : means a prison or a jungle that cannot
be entered, passed through or seen through.
(ix) eased his way : his way was made less unpleasant, painful or
severe by coming close to furnace.
The Rattrap Think as you read
Question 1.
From where did the. peddler get the idea of the world being a
rattrap ?
Answer:
The peddler got the idea of the world being a rattrap when he was
spontaneously thinking of his rattraps. The peddler made his living
by selling small rattraps of wire. He thought that the whole world
about him was nothing but a big rattrap.
Question 2.
Why was he amused by this idea ?
Answer:
The peddler was a vagabond whose life was sad and monotonous.
Of course, the world had never been very kind to him. .That is why
he was amused by this idea of thinking ill of the world-as a rattrap.
Question 3.
Did the peddler expect the kind of hospitality that he received from
the crofter ?
Answer:
No, the peddler had not expected the kind of hospitality that he
received from the crofter. It was because he would usually find
harsh faces when he knocked the doors of the strangers previously
to seek shelter.
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Question 4.
Why was the crofter so talkative and friendly with the peddler ?
Answer:
The crofter was so talkative and friendly with the peddler because
he was leading a lonely life in the cottage. He was an old man who
was living there without wife or child. So, he was happy to get
someone to talk to in his loneliness.
Question 5.
Why did he show the thirty kronor to the peddler ?
Answer:
The crofter was making his livelihood by selling milk in his old age.
He told the peddler that last month he had received thirty kronor in
payment. Thinking that the stranger might not believe this, he
showed the wrinkled three ten-kronor bills to him from a leather
pouch.
Question 6.
Did the peddler respect the confidence reposed in him by the crofter
?
Answer:
No, the peddler did not respect the confidence reposed in him by
the crofter. The rattrap peddler robbed the crofter of his thirty
kronors by breaking violently the window pane of his cottage.
The Rattrap Think as you read
Question 1.
What made the peddler think that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap
?
Answer:
After stealing the crofter’s money, the rattrap peddler did not think
it proper to walk on the public highway. So he turned off the road,
into the forost. But he got entrapped in a big and confusing forest.
He tried to walk in a definite direction, but the paths twisted back
and forth in a strange manner.
He walked and walked without coming to the end of the forest.
Finally, he realised that he had only been walking around the same
part of the forest. Then he recalled his thoughts about the world and
the rattrap. Now his own turn had come. The rattrap peddler thus
thought that he had indeed fallen into a rattrap from which he might
not be able to escape.
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Question 2.
Why did the ironmaster speak kindly to the peddler and ipivite him
home ?
Answer:
The ironmaster spoke kindly to the peddler because he thought that
he was captain and an old regimental comrade who had resigned
from the regiment. Thus the ironmaster thought that he was an old
acquaintance. That is why the ironmaster invited the peddler to
have his company for Christmas.
Question 3.
Why did the peddler decline the invitation ?
Answer:
The peddler declined the invitation of the ironmaster to go to his h