The Borrowers

# Have yourself a merry little Christmas

# Let your heart be light

# From now on, our troubles will be out of sight

# Through the years We all will be together

# If the fates allow

# Hang a shining star upon the highest bough

# And have yourself

# A merry little Christmas

# Now

# Have yourself a merry little Christmas

# Now. #

Whoa!

Aaaargh!

Oof!

Gran?

Oh, no!

I take it Dad's not home.

What's up with Henry?

Shut the door, quick. We can't let it escape. - Let what escape?

One of them. The little people!

The little people?

Aaargh!

There we go! Get it, Henry! It's under the sofa.

Quick, hold this. Me and Henry will herd them towards you.

You're our net man. Don't just stand there! - Your net man?

That's it, Henry, don't let him escape.

Tuck your shirt in, James.

Mum!

Did you hear that? - Hear what, Etty?

There were beans, and a cat, and then I heard a loud thump.

Nonsense, you're letting your imagination run away with you.

Phe-ew!

Dad's in trouble! - He'll be fine.

Aaargh!

Aaaargh!

Aaargh!

What are you doing? - I was going to ask you the same thing.

Switch it back on, it'll escape!

What will? - There it is!

What? - It was one of them. It was right there.

I'm sure of it.

Yeah. All right, Gran.

You really expect me to believe nothing happened?

Yeah.

Well, what about the banging? The cat?

The hoover?

Hoover? What hoover? - I could hear through the floorboards.

Don't be silly, Etty, your dad's far too clever to get mixed up with those creatures.

You'd have to be an idiot to go upstairs when there's beans about.

That's right. You've got to realise that borrowing is boring.

Well, let me come with you next time, so I can see for myself.

Why? Everything you need, I provide. - Not everything.

there aren't other Borrowers round here.

You'd have to walk for miles. It'd take weeks, months even.

What about my aunt and uncle? My cousin Eggletina?

We can't.

We could go visit them. You must know where they are.

We are not visiting anyone.

Why not? - Because I said so.

It's so unfair!

I hate you!

'Thank you, Dad, for the beautiful strawberry cream...' What's that for?

I was worried sick.

I had it under control.

Yeah. Sounded like it, too.

You know, you weren't much older than her

when you got your first pickings.

Down here, she's safe. Down here, we can take care of her.

Yeah, and having the time of her life!

Well, she has it better than most. - It's not enough for her!

She's like you. Borrowing's in her blood.

Arrietty?

# Black turns beamy bright

# Turning on the light

# Today is gonna be the day

# You hear somebody say

# We need you wide awake

# Tiptoe over the floor

# What are you waiting for?

# So so and no more

# That's all to be sorry for

# Today is gonna be the day

# You hear somebody say

# We need you wide awake

# No time for tea or lemonade

# Someone has set the date

# We're only half the way

# Drink a toast to the sun

# To the things that never come

# To the break of the day

# That is all I say... #

Aaargh!

Aaarghh! - Aaargh!

Get away from me!

Ow!

If that's someone breaking in, I suggest you break back out again.

Gran, you won't believe this.

You can't let her see me. - But...

What is it?

What are you hiding in there?

Nothing.

My paint pots.

Well, which is it?

Both. It's nothing. Well, no, it's not nothing, it's my paint pots,

which is nothing.

I'm not hiding anything. Have a look if you like.

Well, keep it down.

You might not need your beauty sleep, but I do.

You're telling me.

I can't believe she was right.

My own little person!

Who are you calling little?

Well, you are quite small.

No, I'm not. It's you who's...too big, a great big overgrown giant.

We're just the right size.

We? There's more of you?

I didn't say that.

Get back! - Ow! I was only going to help you out.

You aren't going to eat me?

Eat you? What would be the point?

My name's James.

Arrietty.

You want a hand?

Yes, please. Oh...!

If that was supposed to be funny...!

Well, it serves you right for stealing my gun.

We don't steal, we borrow.

So there ARE more of you?

What's that?

How about I show you?

So what exactly does this thing do...aaargh!

Arrietty, are you all right?

Look, I'm so sorry. I had no idea you'd fly so...well.

Can we do it again?

That was the furthest yet!

What shall we do now?

What's out there?

How about I show you?

I've tried to imagine what it looked like, the sky, the houses.

It's amazing.

We call it Hackney.

Right, you must promise not to tell anyone.

I promise.

Who's that?

My mum.

She died last year.

Sorry.

We don't talk about her in case it upsets me.

I'll see you soon.

Well, go on. Don't just sit there gawping. Go.

See ya.

Cebuella pygmaea, the pygmy marmoset.

The pygmy hippo, Choeropsis liberiensis.

Microcebus myoxinus, the pygmy mouse lemur, which let us not forget, is,

like you and me, a primate.

And, er, Atelerix albiventris, the African dwarf hedgehog,

so called because of its white stomach.

Countless times, we come across these examples of,

of life in miniature...and yet,

and yet, the very notion

of miniaturisation in the Homo genus is dismissed...

.. as absurd.

Despite clear photographic evidence.

Hmm?

Yes?

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Homo sapiens redactus,

wise man reduced.

Well, thank you all for your attention.

Evidence, Jonathan, you need evidence.

There are photos. - As there are of the Loch Ness monster.

Fairies, pixies, leprechauns, the Hawaiian Menehune,

the Yunwi Tsunsdi of Cherokee legend, the Scandinavian Smallfolk.

The South African tokoloshe. - Let's not forget the tokoloshe.

Myths. Legends.

Yes. In almost every culture around the globe,

there are references to 'little people'.

Now, are we to dismiss it as mere coincidence

that separate cultures individually dreamt up the same myth,

or is it not more likely that there is in fact truth behind that myth?

Look, I've had complaints.

Drop it from the course. I'm no longer asking.

What a total chomp.

Worry not, Jennifer,

the inquisition may have forced Galileo to recant his notion

that the Earth revolves around the sun, but I am not so easily turned.

For breakfast?

I had a word with your dad about taking you upstairs.

Really?

Yeah. Don't get ahead of yourself, though, you've got a lot to learn.

I'll be able to do it.

You're just as cocky as your dad was.

I'm nothing like him.

You'd better hope that's not true.

Why? - Because great Borrowers have an instinct.

They know what's going to happen before it...

actually does, sense a bean before they're seen.

Do you have it?

Yeah. I just like to let your dad take most of the glory.

You don't, do you?

No, I don't have it. But your dad does.