Who is the Sandman?

The sandman is a little man who wears a big sack on his back. In the evening, at dusk, he prepares to leave and then travels across the land. He is so tiny and tiptoes forth so quietly that no one sees him or is aware of him. Oh my, the poor little sandman has so much to do! He has to visit all the children who are lying in their warm beds to go to sleep. The sandman really has to dash about. He takes a little sand out of his sack and sprinkles it in the children's eyes — one grain in the right eye, one in the left! And then the child falls gently into a slumber and sometimes even begins to snore. But of course, the sandman doesn't hear it because by then he has long since hurried off to the bigger kids. Into each of their eyes, he also blows a little grain of sand so they can sleep.

If the sandman forgets even one child, it would be a disaster; they wouldn't be able to fall asleep and they would stay awake all night. Thank goodness for the sandman. The sandman himself can never sleep at night, but perhaps he sleeps a little during the day around midday. One would simply have to ask. Would you do it if he comes to you tonight?

_{St. Wehr, Fehl-Ritzhausen}