The Borrowers

The eye is so close to Arrietty that it fills her entire field of vision. At first, she thinks that it cannot see her and hopes to crawl away among the grass stems unnoticed. However, she hears a booming voice that orders her to stop, and she realizes that the eye belongs to a human being. She has been seen, and although she is initially convinced that she will meet the same fate as Eggletina, she calms down when she realizes that the voice and the eye belong to a boy younger than she is. He threatens to hit her with an ash stick, worried that she will attack him.

Slowly, both the human and the Borrower realize neither means the other any harm. The boy asks if Arrietty can read, saying that since he grew up in India, he is “bilingual” and therefore cannot read. She agrees to read him a book but warns him to go in through the side door to find one since her father is gathering items near the front door. Before he leaves, they argue about whether humans or Borrowers are the most common species on earth.