It Was the Sneak

"I used to have a really pretty doll. But then I lost it!
It was gone for so long, I thought I'd never see it again!
In my life! Ever!
I spent so many days looking for it.
I even checked under my bed!
But then one day, just like that...
It was back!
My mommy said she found it for me.
I think it was the Sneak.

— Young Boharin girl, age 12

'It Was the Sneak' is a myth commonly told among Boharin children in northeastern Nefyran, about an entity known as "The Sneak." The myth claims that when the long-lost items of children suddenly reappear, it is the Sneak who brings them back.

Origin

A Princess's Dilemma

This myth originated in the early days of the Arsaces Monarchy, when the young princess's favorite toy had gone missing. Thorough searches of the royal grounds were unsuccessful, and by the time the toy had been mysteriously returned, the princess had long outgrown it.

A Queen's Humor

Having outgrown her toy, the princess did not care for the returned item. Seeing this, the queen kept the toy and named it a relic of the monarchy, much to her daughter's dismay. As the item developed its own new degree of local fame, and its story spread beyond the castle walls, the myth of "The Sneak" was born among the children of the other inner city districts.

Any item a child loses seems "long-lost," after a while, but who keeps finding them?

What really happened?

Following the myth itself, the circumstances of the princess's toy returning were, and are, a mystery. No one was ever identified as the finder of the item, despite it reappearing in the open, in a hard-to-miss location. There simply was no way it could have been missed, and yet there it was found.
In the present day, some parents who find their children's lost toys often enjoy using this myth to make their children feel better for not being able to find their toys on their own. The children are left happy, with their toys again, glad that it "wasn't their fault" for misplacing them in the first place.