Mysterious Festive Stories of Russian Writers

The tradition of festive storytelling was established by Nikolai Leskov: "so that it is timed to the events of the festive evening — from Christmas to Epiphany, that it is somewhat fantastic, has some morality, at least resembling a refutation of a harmful prejudice, and finally — that it necessarily ends cheerfully." Festive stories traditionally contain miracles, and often the schemes of the "unclean force," but good always triumphs, and the mysterious fog clears away, to the delight of the readers.