In folk lore around the world, little people are
everywhere. Whether it’s the leprechauns
of Ireland, the nisse of Norway, the menehune of Hawaii or any number of
diminutive protagonists like Tom Thumb or Issun-Boshi, it’s hard to go far without finding smallish
characters. So, it stands to reason that
they’d find their way into children’s fantasy fiction at some point. Various points, actually. But which point to actually take a look at?
Well, how about 1952?
The Borrowers by Mary
Norton. I’d been wanting to diversify this
column with some 20th Century children’s books, including ones that
aren’t made into Disney movies. And this
one is a Carnegie Medal winner.
Now, I had heard of this book before but I hadn’t read it
until recently as an adult. The closest
I had come before this is seeing the Studio Ghibli film The Secret World of Arriety, which is based on it. But just because it’s Ghibli doesn’t mean
it’s all that similar to the book. Just
ask fans of Howl’s Moving Castle. There are other movies and TV shows based on The Borrowers, but I don't really have much exposure to them.
The story concerns the Clock family, Pod, Homily and their
daughter Arriety, who are Borrowers.
Borrowers are tiny people who live hidden away in a human house and
“borrow” various things to survive.
Usually “borrowing” means “stealing” and the stuff they take consists of
small, easily misplaced things like buttons, stamps, needles, etc. The Clocks happen to be the last family of
Borrowers living in this particular house, the others having “emigrated”
because they had been seen by the “human beans” as the Borrowers call them. Needless to say, being “seen” is not considered
a good thing for Borrowers. So, things
take an unexpected turn when Arriety goes on her first borrowing trip with her
father and gets seen by a young boy who’s staying in the house. Things turn out to be not so bad as Arriety
and the boy become friends. However,
it’s not to last as older, crueler human beans discover the Borrowers and seek
to find them and get rid of them.
There are a lot of different takes on “little people” in
folklore. One of the things that’s
consistent among most of them is that the little people are magical or at least
extremely skilled. Sometimes both. The Borrowers aren’t really magical and
aren’t particularly good at anything besides taking things that don’t belong to
them. They actually act more like the
anthropomorphized mice you might see in a cartoon (think Jerry from Tom &
Jerry but less violent). It’s a charming
little story. Most of it hinges on the
Boy (whose name I don’t think was ever mentioned) and his friendship with
Arriety. The two bond over reading. Apparently, living in India and being
bilingual made reading difficult for the boy (not sure why that’s the
case). But the boy gets a friend and the
Clock family gets help contacting distant relatives and furniture from the
dollhouse upstairs. There’s also some
interesting commentary in there about how people both big and small see their
place in the world. The boy asks Arriety
how they feel about stealing from humans.
Arriety basically responds that Borrowers don’t see it as stealing when
they “borrow” from humans, only when they take from other Borrowers. The reason is because “human beans are for Borrowers”. That’s right, the Borrowers think humans
exist as a resource to be used by the Borrowers. As if the human being’s purpose is to make
objects just so the Borrowers can take them.
Kind of seems like how some humans see other people and lifeforms on
this planet, doesn’t it? The Borrowers
also seem to think that “human beans” are dying out because fewer and fewer
people seem to come to the house. With
the help of the Boy and his books, Arriety does develop a more enlightened view
of the world.
Beyond just “little people”, there is another place where The Borrowers brushes against the
concept of folklore. The way it’s told. With folk stories, a story is passed from
person to person. Often with the end
result of no one knowing who the story started with in the first place. The story of the Borrowers may not have
gotten that far, but it seemed to be on its way. The book opens with young Kate hearing the
story from her Aunt Mrs. May, who in turn heard it from her brother who was the
Boy in the story. The veracity of the
story is even called into question because even though Mrs. May supposedly
found Arriety’s little journal, she notes that her handwriting is very similar
to her brother’s.
The Borrowers was
successful enough that it spawned four sequels.
And last I checked, at least this first book is often still in print. They may not be the magical little people of
ages-old lore, but it’s nice to know the tradition continues in a way.