Many creatures of This World, faerytale or otherwise, have existed in many different sizes and shapes through the years. When Europeans first went to Madagascar they encountered gibbons as large as gorillas and as small as mice before killing off all the smaller and larger varieties. Much the same is true of humans, with all but my own kind becoming the stuff of legend to most.
One of the smallest are the Grassers and the Carpeteers. Each live among the fibres of grass or carpet that make up their world. Once there were only Grassers, who, like humans, came in various sizes. When humans introduced carpets, the smallest among the Grassers took the opportunity to escape persecution from their larger counterparts and shelter somewhere they could not be touched.
Both these proud peoples live lives much the same as ours, except that they live in either burrows in the ground or homes created beyond skirting boards [Carpeteers are much the same as the fictional Borrowers - Modern Editor]. However, they are quite different from one another. Grassers hunt small creatures and eat wild fruit while Carpeteers steal all their food from humans, often struggling to survive if “their” humans leave the house unoccupied.
Grassers and Carpeteers both, of course, have much to fear from larger animals and always travel in well armed groups to fend off creatures from the size of mice upwards. Carpeteers often construct their own mouse (and rat) traps in the gaps between walls or rein down spears upon them from above.
Wars have been fought between these peoples and skirmishes happen often as Carpeteers seek to move between houses. One such war was reported by a Kensington man who noticed one day tiny columns of smoke rising from different points on his lawn. On closer inspection he found tiny people seemingly at war with one another and attempted to broker a peace. In doing so he found that a war had broken out as Carpeteers sought to find a route between the man’s house and his garden studio, where a group from the house and founded a separate community. The man was ultimately unsuccessful and so built a safe passage for the Carpeteers and helped both Grassers and Carpeteers to flourish on his property.
Such instances of interaction are extremely uncommon, it should be said, and most people are unaware of their Grasser and Carpeteer tenants. However, I do myself leave food for Carpeteers and seek not to walk across my lawns too often.
One of the smallest are the Grassers and the Carpeteers. Each live among the fibres of grass or carpet that make up their world. Once there were only Grassers, who, like humans, came in various sizes. When humans introduced carpets, the smallest among the Grassers took the opportunity to escape persecution from their larger counterparts and shelter somewhere they could not be touched.
Both these proud peoples live lives much the same as ours, except that they live in either burrows in the ground or homes created beyond skirting boards [Carpeteers are much the same as the fictional Borrowers - Modern Editor]. However, they are quite different from one another. Grassers hunt small creatures and eat wild fruit while Carpeteers steal all their food from humans, often struggling to survive if “their” humans leave the house unoccupied.
Grassers and Carpeteers both, of course, have much to fear from larger animals and always travel in well armed groups to fend off creatures from the size of mice upwards. Carpeteers often construct their own mouse (and rat) traps in the gaps between walls or rein down spears upon them from above.
Wars have been fought between these peoples and skirmishes happen often as Carpeteers seek to move between houses. One such war was reported by a Kensington man who noticed one day tiny columns of smoke rising from different points on his lawn. On closer inspection he found tiny people seemingly at war with one another and attempted to broker a peace. In doing so he found that a war had broken out as Carpeteers sought to find a route between the man’s house and his garden studio, where a group from the house and founded a separate community. The man was ultimately unsuccessful and so built a safe passage for the Carpeteers and helped both Grassers and Carpeteers to flourish on his property.
Such instances of interaction are extremely uncommon, it should be said, and most people are unaware of their Grasser and Carpeteer tenants. However, I do myself leave food for Carpeteers and seek not to walk across my lawns too often.
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