Original Source (Denmark): There are older versions, however we pulled inspiration specifically from the version by Hans Christian Andersen published in 1841 called "Ole Lukøie" — Ole being a Danish first name and Lukøie translating to "shut your eye."

He said to quietly tiptoe upstairs in socks and a silk coat that changes colors, lulling children to sleep by sprinkling magical dust in their eyes and telling stories. He has two umbrellas he holds over children; one with pictures to bring beautiful dreams, and one without for misbehaving children, leading to a dreamless sleep. 

Similar Variants/ Inspiration:

• Baku- Eater of Dreams (Japan): "When a child in Japan wakes shaking from a nightmare, she knows what to do. Hugging her face in her pillow, she whispers three times “Baku-san, come eat my dream. Baku-san, come eat my dream. Baku-san, come eat my dream.” If her request is granted, the monstrous baku will come into her room and suck the bad dream away. But the baku cannot be summoned without caution. A too-hungry baku might not be satiated with a single dream, and might suck away her hopes and ambitions along with it, leaving her hollow."
  
   

• Spider Woman (Ojibwe Nations) : In many creation and migration across America, she appears as a helpful teacher, guide, and protector. In one variation, Spider Woman (canned Na'ashjé'íí Asdzáá) casts her web like a net to capture and eat misbehaving children. She taught the Ojibwe to weave dream catchers to honor her origin and filters out the bad dreams  (which later perish in the sunlight) and allows only good thoughts to pass through.

Original Source (European Influences)

: There is no record of a singular folktale creature who is called the Dew Fairy.  Designers had the freedom to draw upon European oral tradition and to similar tales to explain or enrich her purpose and powers. At her core, she is a healer and ultimately protects Hansel & Gretel in the forest. Sleep is often implied to be a little too close to death, so when she wakes them with her dew drops there is a subtext that she has revived them.

• Naiads  (Greece) : Water Nymphs who were minor deities worshiped as essential to fertility and human life. It is said that the water in places where they live have incredible medicinal properties. 

• Fairy (origin unknown): Most of us conjure and image of Disney's Tinkerbell as a benevolent small humanoid being with wings and magic. However, even those whom are categorized in the Seelie Court are morally ambivalent, dangerous in addition to playful and mischievous beings that are not to be trifled with.

• Mermaids (origin unknown): Peaceful, non-violent humanoid creatures with the lower half of their body a fishtail, they actually prefer to live away from humans. Often depicted as beautiful young maidens, they are associated with misfortune and death because their beauty seemingly lures sailors off course and into rocks.

  • Lorelei Myth
    
    Similar Variants/ Inspirations :

• Mami Wata (Nigeria/ Cameroon, West & Central Africa) :  A mermaid-like figure (with a woman's upper body and a serpent torso) who symbolizes good fortune, wealth, and healing but also the threat of destruction. Often considered the protector of mothers and children were snatched from their mothers in their home communities in Africa or later in the Americas.
  
   

• Atargatis (Ancient Assyria): Goddess of the moon, fertility and water who was worshiped more than 3000-4000 years ago. Her story is considered the first mermaid legend ever.  Atargatis is goddess of transformation who guides her followers to face their fears and their darkest selves so that they can love and appreciate all that they are.

Original Source (unknown):  The Echoes are the spirits of the wood, but also have the potential to be the voices of the gingerbread children trapped by the Wicked Witch, or even other creatures like fairies, dwarves,or elevs! One can derive many interpretations. Here are some others to consider.

Inspiration:

• Dryads (Greek): Tree Nymphs whom are minor land deities (also see Homepage Scavenger Hunt Faces in the Trees) believed to be  the spirit of the tree itself.
   

• Myling (Scandinavia): "the phantasmal incarnations of the souls of children that had been forced to roam the earth until they could persuade someone (or otherwise cause enough of a ruckus to make their wishes known) to bury them properly.The myling comes into existence when a child is unwanted and therefore killed by its mother. It can be heard singing in the night, thereby revealing the mother's crime. Ways to help the myling is to give it a name or to find the corpse and bury it in holy soil."
   

• Yōsei (Japan): "small magical creatures, which can and do regularly attract ghosts to them. Generally quite innocent and playful in nature yousei are also fairly intelligent, and can learn human spoken language, unlike the European common fairy. Some yousei have also mastered sign language, prompting some deaf Japanese folks to take the creatures into their homes as company, as well as to act as an interpreter."- The Monster Blog of Monsters, Yosei.

Original Source (Germany):  This Wicked Witch is our infamous cannibalistic villain, known also as the Gingerbread Hag or Rosina Leckermaul who resides in a house made of candies and sweets to lure in her prey...children!
The witch derives many of her aspects from the beliefs of the evil entities people believed lived in the forest in the Middle Ages. Her cannibalistic nature is reminiscent of the horrible means people used to survive during the Little Ice Age. ​
 

Similar Variants/Inspiration:

• Baba Yaga (Russia): Old lady in her house on chicken feet looking for children to force into domestic labor then devour. (See Scavenger Hunt Homepage: Houses)
  
   

• Kitsune (Japan): Kitsune are ancient fox yokai who poses as a distressed female traveler or monk on a pilgrimage, and ask for lodging. They vex their targets by creating phantom sounds and sights, stealing from them, or otherwise humiliating them publicly after potentially a ploy of seduction. The Kitsune derive their power, youth, and ultimately their immortality from eating human souls.  If a Kitsune reaches 1,000 years old and obtains its ninth tail, they can ascend to the heavens.
  (Although our witch is no seductress, we found her power to take the soul of children into gingerbread similar to the Kitsune. She has similar real and mysterious illusory fires and strange lights in the sky, which could be like Kitsune magic or “fox fire.”)