The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol

But the magistrate of Sorochinsk happened not to pass and then, what has he to do with those out of his jurisdiction? he has his own circuit. He knows to a certainty how many sucking pigs each swine brings forth in each cottage, how much linen lies in each box, and what each one has pawned in the brandy-shop out of his clothes or his household furniture. If at that time the magistrate of Sorochinsk had happened to pass in his carriage, drawn by three horses, his head covered by a lancer cap with sheepskin trimming, and wrapped in his great cloak, covered with blue cloth and lined with black sheepskin, and with his tightly plaited lash, which he uses for making the driver drive faster-if this worthy gentleman had happened to pass at that time, no doubt he would have seen the witch, because there is no witch who could glide away without his seeing her.

Suddenly, out of the chimney of one of the cottages, volumes of smoke ascended in clouds towards the heavens, and in the midst of those clouds rose, on a besom, a witch. As yet there was not a single group of young peasants to be seen under the windows of the cottages the moon alone peeped stealthily in at them, as if inviting the maidens, who were decking themselves, to make haste and have a run on the crisp snow. The frost had grown more severe than during the day but, to make up for this, everything had become so still that the crisping of the snow under foot might be heard nearly half a verst round.

A bright winter night had come on, stars had appeared, and the moon rose majestically in the heavens to shine upon good men and the whole of the world, so that they might gaily sing carols and hymns in praise of the nativity of Christ. The last day before Christmas had just closed. Nikolai Gogol 2991713 The Night of Christmas Eve 1860 George Tolstoy

The Night Before Christmas by Nikolai Gogol