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).

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.

* 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) – translated to English in A Book of Songs for My Little Sisters, and Little Brothers Too (1852)
* “The Sandman” (poem), by Margaret Vandegrift (1 Nov. 1883)
* “The Sand‐man” (poem), by Elmer Ruán Coates (13 Nov. 1884)
* “The Sand‐man” (poem), by George Cooper (1887)
* “The Sandman’s Song” (poem), by Charles Buxton Going (1892)
* Nightmare Land, by G. Orr Clark (1901)
* “The Sandman” (poem), by May Morgan (Sept. 1906)
* “The Sandman” (poem), by Mary White Slater (July 1910) – later set to music
* Heroes and Heroines of Fiction, by William S. Walsh (1915)
* “The Little Sand‐men” (poem), by Ilsien Nathalie Gaylord (1915)
* Snickerty Nick, by Julia Ellsworth Ford and Witter Bynner (1919)
* The Sandman’s Mountain, by Louis Dodge (1920)
* [https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/Kabumpo_in_Oz 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)

* “Der Sandmann ist da, juch, juch!” (German folksong) (first published 1876)
* Hansel and Gretel (opera), libretto by Adelheid Wette, music by Engelbert Humperdinck (1893)
* “The Dustman” (song), by Frederick E. Weatherly, music by J. L. Molloy (1899)
* “The Sandman’s Song” (lullaby), by Reginald De Koven (1901)
* Is Santa Claus a Fraud? (play), by Carolyn Wells (Dec. 1909)
* “The Japanese Sandman” (song), words by Raymond B. Egan, music by Richard A. Whiting (1920)
* The Christmas Elves (play), by Sidney Baldwin (1922)
* Sing a Song of Sleepy Head (play), by James W. Foley (1922)
* William and the Sandman (play), by Mildred Corell and Irma Liccione (1930)

* The Little Journeys of Nip and Tuck (newspaper strip) (7 Mar. 1909)

*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandman Wikipedia]
*[http://oz.wikia.com/wiki/Sand_Man Oz Wiki]
*[http://www.comicvine.com/sandman/4005-30317/ ComicVine]
*[http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0223056/ IMDB]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160619081105/http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0361832/?ref_=tt_cl_t11 IMDB] (archived)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140929222356/https://www.imdb.com/character/ch0051138/ IMDB] (archived)
*Myths in Media Wiki
Category:Male Characters
Category:Legendary Creatures
Category:Literary Characters
Category:Reilly & Lee Characters
Category:Elderly Characters
Category:Wizard of Oz Characters
Category:Personifications
Category:Real Name Unknown
Category:Protagonists
Category:Unknown Creator
Category:Unknown Debuts
Category:European Characters
Category:Academy Awards Characters
Category:Disney Characters
Category:Silly Symphony Characters
Category:Nightmare Before Christmas Characters
Category:Film Serial Characters
Category:Stop-Motion Characters
Category:Television Characters
Category:Dreamworks Characters
Category:Movie Characters
Category:Comic Book Characters
Category:Vertigo Characters
Category:DC Characters
Category:Star Characters
Category:Sleep Themed Characters
Category:Sandman Characters
Category:Stone Themed Characters
Category:Nickelodeon Characters
Category:Scooby-Doo Characters
Category:Ghostbusters Characters
Category:Mad Magazine Characters
Category:Family Guy Characters
Category:20th Century Studios Characters
Category:Theatre Characters
Category:Opera Characters
Category:Music Characters
Category:Aeon Crash Characters
Category:Guardian Cross Characters
Category:TCG Characters
Category:Fairly OddParents Characters
Category:Hotel Transylvania Characters
Category:Tower of Saviors Characters
Category:Cartoon Network Characters
Category:Panini Characters