Poor Stainless

Poor Stainless is a short book related to the Borrowers book series by English author Mary Norton.

It was first published in 1966 in the UK by J. M. Dent with illustrations by Diana Stanley, and republished as a novelette in 1994.

Summary
Before the events of The Borrowers, Homily is telling Arrietty stories about her childhood. She tells the story of Stainless, the youngest son of the Knife Machine family. Stainless has a perfect complexion and is the favourite of all the adults, but mercilessly teases the other children. One day he is sent out to borrow parsley, and vanishes. The other Borrowers frantically organize a full search of Firbank Hall. This marks the first time Homily goes out into the house and the first time she encounters the snobbish Overmantel family. Their search is fruitless, and they eventually give up. However, while Homily and her sister are back home making black armbands, Stainless starts teasing them from a knothole in their ceiling. It turns out that while borrowing, he climbed into the housekeeper’s basket and was carried to the village shop, where he lived on candy for a week before returning in another basket. However, as a result of his indulgence, his perfect complexion is ruined.

Characters

 * Homily Clock
 * Arrietty Clock
 * Uncle Bolty: a relative of Homily
 * Stainless Knife Machine