| Sand Man | |
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Real Name |
Sand Man |
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First Appearance |
Unknown |
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Origin[]
The Sand Man is a mythical character in central and northern European folklore who brings good dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto the eyes of children while they sleep at night.
Traditionally, he is a character in many children's stories. 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 introduced 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. "Ole" is a Danish name and "Lukøje" means "close eye". 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 dreams at all.
E.T.A. Hoffmann 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 Romanian folklore there is a similar character, Mos Ene (Ene the Elder).
Oz[]
The Sand Man is a strange old man who leaps from cloud to cloud in the sky. With him, he carries a bag of silver sand, which immediately causes anyone exposed to fall asleep.
Leaping over the Land of Ev one day, he saw Ozma's palace above the clouds, for it was at that time stuck onto a giant Ruggedo's head, and crashed into it, having mistaken it for a dream castle in the sky, of which he was accustomed to leaping through.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Index linguæ veteris scytho‐scandicæ sive gothicæ, by Olaus Verelius (1691) – first appearance in print, named Joen Blund
- Versuch eines vollständigen grammatisch‐kritischen Wörterbuches der Hochdeutschen Mundart, by Johann Christoph Adelung (1777) – possible first appearance in print with the name Sandman
- “The Sandman,” by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1817)
- Translated to English in Tales from the German (1844), Weird Tales (1885)
- “Ole Lukøje,” by Hans Christian Andersen (1841)
- Translated to English in Wonderful Stories for Children (1846), Andersen’s Tales for Children (1861), Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales (1888)
- “The Sandman” (poem), by Hermann Kletke (1841)
- “The Sandman” (poem), by Mary White Slater (July 1910) – later set to music
- Kabumpo in Oz, by Ruth Plumly Thompson (1922)
- “Santa’s Visit,” by Jessie A. Harris and Lillian M. Edmonds (1930)
- Sally Soapbubble and Her Silver Fish, by Margaret E. Gross (1940)
Public Domain Theatrical and Musical Appearances[]
- Hansel and Gretel (opera), libretto by Adelheid Wette, music by Engelbert Humperdinck (1893)
- “The Japanese Sandman” (song), words by Raymond B. Egan, music by Richard A. Whiting (1920)