[nomand]

You're describing Arietty by Ghibli, even "Borrower" is the English translation for the little beings :)

[thaumasiotes]

Well, no, obviously not. The Ghibli movie is a takeoff on the Borrowers series by Mary Norton; there is no reason to believe tetris11 had the movie in mind rather than the books he referred to by name.

[potta_coffee]

There's a story called "The Borrowers" from the 50's. I'm not sure which pre-dates the other.

[2muchcoffeeman]

Arrietty is based on the book.