There are many ways in which to find a
lost item. The earliest recorded
method I could find was actually written by
William Shakespeare in
The
Merchant of Venice and was later adapted into a common
folklore belief
involving
marbles. At one point,
Bassanio is speaking with
Antonio of
his youth.
"In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft,
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight
The self-same way with more advised watch,
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both
I oft found both."
For those that do not read Shakespearese, the translation to
modern day
English is this.
"Back when I was in school, I used to do archery, and sometimes I'd lose an
arrow. When this happened I would fire another arrow of the exact same type
in the same direction and watch really closely as to where it landed. Then
when I went after it, I often found the first one."
Since then it has been adapted to all sorts of things... though the only one
that comes to mind is marbles. Anyone who has ever played marbles outdoors
--or indoors with a lot of furniture around-- has felt the trauma of losing a
purrie or a
steelie, or even... god forbid, a
masher. The way to find
it was to find a marble of similar make and material and shoot it the same
direction. This actually works even better than the arrow method, because
generally spheres will tend to follow contours, and
gravity will draw them
to about the same area if it is uneven ground. I heavily suggest trying it
sometime, as an experiment.
And that, my friends, is how you find a lost object. Thank you, Mr.
Shakespeare.