The Rattrap – Play Script
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Scene 1 – Introduction
Narrator: Once there was a poor peddler. He sold rattraps, but he was often hungry and lonely.
Peddler (to audience): The world is nothing but a big rattrap. Riches and joys are only bait. Once
caught, no one escapes.
Scene 2 – The Crofter’s Cottage
Narrator: One evening, the peddler knocked at a crofter’s door.
Crofter seeming happy as he welcomes the peddler inside
Crofter: Come in, stranger. You must be cold and hungry. Stay with me tonight.
Peddler: Thank you, kind sir. I had nowhere to go.
Crofter placing down the food, and taking the seat himself, taking out the cards and giving them to
peddler.
Peddler looking around
Crofter (showing pouch): I keep a cow. Look, I earned thirty kronor yesterday.
Peddler (aside, greedily): Thirty kronor… that could feed me for long.
Crofter and peddler getting up and leaving the stage
Narrator: Next morning, after the crofter left, the peddler stole the money and ran away.
Scene 3 – Lost in the Forest
Peddler, panicked, running with bag in this hand (needs to be visible to the audience)
Peddler (wandering, upset): Where am I? These trees never end… I’m trapped! Just like a rat in a
rattrap.
Narrator: He walked the whole day, tired and hopeless.
Scene 4 – At the Iron Mill
Narrator: At night, the peddler saw an iron mill. Inside, the flames of the forge glowed.
The master blacksmith will be performing his action of hammering iron
Blacksmith: Who are you, stranger? You look tired. Sit near the forge if you want.
Peddler: Thank you. Just let me rest a while.
Narrator: Soon, the ironmaster entered.
Scene 5 – The Ironmaster’s Mistake
Ironmaster looking closely at the peddler.
Ironmaster (looking closely): Wait! Isn’t this my old friend, Captain von Stahle?
Peddler (alarmed): No, sir. You are mistaken. I am only a poor ped-(cuts him off)
Ironmaster: Don’t argue. Come to my house for Christmas.
Peddler (nervous): Please, let me be. I don’t belong there.
Ironmaster: I won’t hear no. You shall be my guest tonight.
Everyone will exit for the next scene.
Scene 6 – At the Manor
Narrator: After they returned to the manor house, the Ironmaster ordered his servants to clean and
well dress him. They all returned to the hall. But in the morning, the ironmaster discovered the truth.
Ironmaster (angrily): You! You are no captain, just a thief! Get out.
Peddler (bold): It’s not my fault, sir.
Peddler (ashamed): I told you I was only a peddler. Let me leave.
Ironmaster: Well, it was not honest, and the sheriff might want to say something about it.
The peddler stepped forward and hit the table with his fist.
Peddler: Mr. Ironmaster, the whole world is a big rattrap. Riches and joys are just bait to trap people.
If the sheriff locks me up today, remember—one day you too may get tempted, and then you’ll be
caught in the trap.
Ironmaster (laughing): Well said, my good fellow! Maybe we can forgive you this Christmas. Now, go
quickly!
Edla (gently): No! He should stay today. I don’t want him to leave.
Edla (gently): Father, today is Christmas. Let him stay, just for one day.
Ironmaster: “What are you doing, daughter?”
Edla (hesitant, smiling): “I’m thinking of this stranger. I want him to stay and feel at home this
Christmas.”
Edla: “He walks all year and is never welcome anywhere. I want him to enjoy one peaceful day with
us.”
Ironmaster (grumbling): “Hmph… I hope you won’t regret this.”
Edla (taking peddler’s hand): “Come, sit down and eat.”
Narrator: The peddler stayed silent, eating quietly .
Scene 7 – Transformation
Narrator: the next morning, At the church Ironmaster and Edla learned that one of the crofters have
been robbed by a man selling rattraps.
Edla and Ironmaster hurries to enter on stage to catch the peddler. But the peddler was not there
anymore.
Ironmaster(roaring): See what did I told you. He is gone now, who knows what he stole.
Edla founds a letter with a bag inside a rattrap; she picks it up and starts reading it.
Edla (picking up rattrap): Look, father, a rattrap… and a letter.
Edla (reading):
“Dear Miss,
Because of your kindness, I return the money I stole from the crofter. You treated me like a captain,
so I will try to live like one.
Yours, Captain von Stahle.”
Narrator: And so, kindness and compassion changed a thief into a new man.
Final Moral Speech
Narrator (stepping forward):
“This is the story of a poor peddler who once believed the world was only a rattrap, full of lies and
temptations. But a single act of kindness changed his heart.
It teaches us that love and compassion can transform even the hardest soul.
True greatness lies not in wealth or power, but in treating every human being with dignity.”
All Characters (together, smiling): Kindness makes us human.
Thank you