The Borrowers Omnibus [antikvár]

Introduction To John Cromwell, Esq. Dear John, It is early morning in this small whitewashed room, and I am sitting up in bed trying to answer this question of yours about what kind of events or circumstances led me first to think about the Borrowers. Looking back, the idea seems to be part of an early fantasy in the life of a very short-sighted child, before it was known that she needed glasses. Detailed panorama of lake and mountain, the just-glimpsed boat on a vague horizon, the scattered constellations of a winter sky, the daylight owl - carven and motionless against the matching tree trunk - the sight of romping hares in a distant field, the swift recognition of a rare bird on the wing, were not for her (although the pointing fingers and shouted 'look-looks' in no way passed her by: on tiptoed feet and with screwed-up searching eyes she would join in an excitement which for her held the added element of mystery). On the other hand, for her brothers country walks with her must have been something of a trial: she was an inveterate lingerer, a gazer into banks and hedgerows, a rapt investigator of shallow pools, a lier-down by stream-like teeming ditches. Such walks were punctuated by loud, long-suffering cries: 'Oh, come on . for