I know the (rather sinister) Sandman has turned up in various childrens stories for over 100 years, by where did the original character come from?
2007-05-27 09:11:08 · 5 answers · asked by Lunar_Chick 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
he started in Scandinavian folklore as a household elf who
flung sand in the eyes of children who didn't want to sleep
he became popular in other countries after the publication of
the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Sandman"
2007-05-27 10:50:02 · answer #1 · answered by Syberian 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I LOVE this question. Funny story. When my youngest was 1 year old and my oldest was 5, we passed by a local park Haunted Trail a week before Halloween. My oldest was feeling so brave and BEGGED us to take her. Our youngest was falling asleep in the back. My husband had some ear phones and suggested he could just hold our 1 year old and if she got scared he would just leave. He put the ear phones in her ears and we stood in line. She yanked them out and just watched people for a while- then it was our turn. Through all the screaming and the chainsaws etc, she slowly just drifted off to sleep. It was actually not that scary (it looked sort of silly- because it was for kids). I still can't believe she was drooling and snoring through the chainsaw noise. We couldn't stop laughing. Oh yeah- we've never taken her back to any haunted houses, though!
2016-05-19 02:15:27 · answer #2 · answered by estella 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a way to get children to acknowledge that they are indeed sleepy and put them to sleep.
Very often, children don't want to sleep, even if they are sleepy, as a gesture of rebellion or "just because".
Sleepiness or tiredness, however, produces a feeling of "sand in the eyes" - an irritation between the eyelids and eyeballs.
By attributing this effect to an external "Sandman", parents absolve children of their desire to rebel and allow them to sleep with no feeling of having lost any battle.
2007-05-27 09:29:02 · answer #3 · answered by rhapword 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
From the 'sand' that appears in the eyes after sleep. How did it get there? The sandman did it, kiddies.
2007-05-27 09:16:23 · answer #4 · answered by Harriet 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the only sandman i know if from spider man 3 which i haven't watched and dying to watch it.
2007-05-27 09:35:29 · answer #5 · answered by havingfun 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋