Mild Eye

Mild Eye is a Roma man, frequently referred to as a gypsy, who is living in the English countryside. He is introduced in ''The Borrowers Afield. ''He frequently poached animals. He gets his name because he has one pale blue eye and one deep black eye.

At some point, he stole a gentleman's boots, but then threw one at a cat, and Spiller took it. Spiller and later the Clocks lived in it. He eventually found the boot and took it back, but also inadvertently captured the Clocks. They hide under the bed in his wagon. He tells his overbearing wife about them, but she laughs in his face. His piebald cat Tiger continues to try to get to them, and they are trapped under the bed. Tom Goodenough arrives and hears about it from Mild Eye's wife. Mild Eye tells him he plans to put the tiny people in a cage and sell them. Fortunately, while Mild Eye is distracted, they run into Tom's pocket. Mild Eye sees them and apparently gets into a fight with Tom, but the boy is able to run away, while Mild Eye cannot run in his damaged boot.

In The Borrowers Afloat, Mild Eye is poaching fish from the river when he sees the Clocks in their teapot. He tries snagging them on his fishing line, and then attempts to wade out to them, but it's too deep and he cannot swim. He eventually attracts the attention of the local policeman, who finds his stolen fish.

In Other Adaptations
In The Borrowers (2011), Professor Mildeye (played by Stephen Fry) works at a London university and believes in the existence of "Homo Sapiens Reductus." He, his assistant Jenny, and Mrs. Driver attempt to capture the Borrowers and prove their existence. He catches Pod and Homily and is going to show them at an academic conference, but they escape and he is humiliated at the conference.