dreamcatchers

Dreamcatchers are one of the lesser known creatures of myth. There are also very few stories they appear in. And even if they do the usually play only a small - altough not necessarily unimportant - role. 

The dreamcatchers are known for two main characterisical traits:
The first but less important is their apparent gift of foreseeing the future.
The second and main trait is the warding off of bad dreams.

If they appear in stories, they only role is usually a soft nudging of the main characters into the right direction. 
More often however they appear in stage plays. Altough often in the background - mostly as statue of thin wood - the symbolize the working of ancient powers or the gods themselves that lead the heroes of the play on the right path. Where they appear the story will surely take a good end.

Their biggest appearence however they still have in the bedrooms of children. To ward off bad dreams, a ring of some kind with a net of thin cord in it is hung at the head end of the bed. Often these "dreamcatchers" will also have a few strings with pearls, feathers or other hanging down from them. 
These amulets are ment to call upon the dreamcatchers for a trade. In exchange for protecting the sleeping mortal, they are allowed to take the bad dreams away, but only the bad.

Just like ghosts, dreamcatchers are not commonly believed to have bodies but to be some kind of spirit, floating throug the air, unseen by all but those with special gifts. Yet some of those that claim to have encountered these creatures insist they remember a friendly face with a gentle smile before they fell asleep and had prohetic dreams.