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Vilhelm Pedersen drew this representation of the Sandman for the fairytale "Ole Lukøje" (Mr. Sandman) by Hans Christian Andersen

The Sandman is a mythical character in Northern European folklore who brings good dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto the eyes of children while they sleep at night.

Representation in traditional folklore [link]

Traditionally he is a character in many children's stories, invoked to lull children to sleep. He is said to sprinkle sand or dust on or into the eyes of the child at night to bring on dreams and sleep. The grit or "sleep" in one's eyes upon waking is supposed to be the result of the Sandman's work the previous evening.

Hans Christian Andersen's 1841 folk tale Ole Lukøje recorded the Sandman, named Ole Lukøje, by relating dreams he gave to a young boy in a week through his magical technique of sprinkling dust in the eyes of the children. Andersen wrote:

There is nobody in the world who knows so many stories as Ole-Luk-Oie, or who can relate them so nicely. In the evening, while the children are seated at the table or in their little chairs, he comes up the stairs very softly, for he walks in his socks, then he opens the doors without the slightest noise, and throws a small quantity of very fine dust in their eyes, just enough to prevent them from keeping them open, and so they do not see him. Then he creeps behind them, and blows softly upon their necks, till their heads begin to droop. But Ole-Luk-Oie does not wish to hurt them, for he is very fond of children, and only wants them to be quiet that he may relate to them pretty stories, and they never are quiet until they are in bed and asleep. As soon as they are asleep, Ole-Luk-Oie seats himself upon the bed. He is nicely dressed; his coat is made of silken fabric; it is impossible to say of what color, for it changes from green to red, and from red to blue as he turns from side to side. Under each arm he carries an umbrella; one of them, with pictures on the inside, he spreads over the good children, and then they dream the most beautiful stories the whole night. But the other umbrella has no pictures, and this he holds over the naughty children so that they sleep heavily, and wake in the morning without having dreamed at all.

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) wrote an inverse depiction of the lovable character in a story called Der Sandmann, which showed how sinister such a character could be made. According to the protagonist's nurse, he threw sand in the eyes of children who wouldn't sleep, with the result of those eyes falling out and being collected by the Sandman, who then takes the eyes to his iron nest on the moon, and uses them to feed his children. The protagonist of the story grows to associate this nightmarish creature with the genuinely sinister figure of his father's associate Coppelius.

In popular culture [link]

The Sandman is a popular character in folklore referenced in popular culture over several centuries. Some noteworthy examples include:

• The 1933 Walt Disney Silly Symphonies cartoon "Lullybye Land" ends with the baby being put to sleep by the sandman.
• The 1957 Soviet cartoon "The Snow Queen" is introduced by the Sandman who is depicted as an elf who puts children into a trance (sleep) using a black umbrella which causes a dreamless sleep or a colourful umbrella which causes dreams.
• The 1958 Sandmännchen German children's bedtime television programms of puppets in stop motion animation. The little Sandman ended the story sprinkling some sleepy magic sand over the children (puppets), causing the usual dry eyes feeling observed in the rubbing of their eyes. After that, they fall sleep.
• Films, including 1991 and 2000 versions of The Sandman.
• Popular music including "Mr. Sandman" popularized by the Chordettes, "Sandman" by America (band), "In Dreams" by Roy Orbison, "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, and "Mr. Sandman" from the album Tical by Method Man.
• Comic book characters from Vertigo, DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
• A recurring video game character in Nintendo's Punch-Out!! series.
• The Sandman appears in The Smurfs episode "Darkness Monster" voiced by Frank Welker. When Papa Smurf and the Smurflings travel to the Land of Nod in order to obtain some sand in order to make Brainy Smurf's new glasses (after he lost them to the Darkness Monster when gathering chocolate from its cave with Clumsy Smurf), they end up meeting a grouchy Sandman after the previous one retired. After managing to convince the Sandman to help them, Sandman requires chocolate from the Darkness Monster's cave in exchange for him giving them the sand. Once this trade is done, Papa Smurf obtains the sand in order to forge Brainy Smurf's new glasses.
• In The Real Ghostbusters in the episode "Mr. Sandman Dream me a Dream", a rogue sandman is the villain of the episode. The title is a reference to the lyrics of the song Mr. Sandman.
• In The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, there is a character name Steven the Sandman (voiced by Daran Norris).
• The Sandman appears in The Santa Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause portrayed by Michael Dorn. He is shown as a member of the Council of Legendary Figures and tends to fall asleep during meetings.
• The Sandman is a likely influence for the Pokémon character Hypno as well as the mythical Japanese creature Baku.^{[original research?]}
• A weapon from the videogame Team Fortress 2 is called "The Sandman", a wooden bat that stuns enemies.
• The character was referred to in the opening theme song of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: "It’s hard to stay up, it’s been a long, long day and you’ve got the sandman at your door. But hang on, leave the TV on and let’s do it anyway. It’s okay, you can always sleep through work tomorrow, okay. Hey, hey, tomorrows just your future yesterday". ^[1]
• A perk from the PC and videogames Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas is called "Mr. Sandman". It gives you the ability to silently kill people in their sleep.
• Sandy, Bunnymund's best friend, appears in the upcoming DreamWorks' film, Rise of the Guardians.
• In The Fairly OddParents episode "Beddy Bye", the Sandman (voiced by Jackie Mason) is a mattress retail magnate and is referred to as Harvey Sandman and the Mattress King.
• A Kia Optima commercial features him giving a man a dream about the vehicle while Mr. Sandman plays as background music.

References [link]

In the cult series Charmed, he appeared to be able to put the sisters to sleep with his dust, and knew all that went on in their dreams

• Andersen, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27200/27200-h/27200-h.htm#ole_luk. Retrieved October 20, 2010. 
• Tatar, Maria (2003) [1987]. Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-01487-6. 
• Hoffman, E.T.A. (1817). "Der Sandmann". Die Nachtstücke.