Sandman (folklore)
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The sandman is a character from several children's stories who brings good sleep and dreams by sprinkling magic sand onto the sleeping. Ole-Luk-Oie, one of Hans Christian Andersen's more obscure folk tales, told of the different dreams he gave a young boy in a week.
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. He did indeed throw sand in the eyes of sleeping children, 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 sandman character as been portrayed in a number of songs including "Mr. Sandman" by the Chordettes, (in a slightly different form), "Enter Sandman" by Metallica, and "Mein Herz brennt" by Rammstein, in which he is impersonated and represented rather sinisterly. The sandman is referred to in the opening line of the Roy Orbison hit song, "In Dreams."
Various comic book characters have been named after the sandman, with two from DC Comics, the Silver Age Sandman and Neil Gaiman's Dream of the Endless being based directly on the folklore.
The sandman is briefly mentioned in Terry Pratchett's novel Soul Music, where we're told that, on the Discworld, he sends people to sleep by throwing sand in their eyes without taking it out of his sack.