'The Night of Christmas Eve' is a story written by Nikolai Gogol. The story opens with a description of the winter scenery of Dikanka, Ukraine. A witch flies across the night sky and the devil steals the moon and hiding it in his pocket, first playing with it in the sky, with no one in the village noticing. Since it is the night before Christmas, the devil is free to roam around and torment people as he pleases, so he decides to find a way to get back at the village blacksmith, Vakula, because he paints religious art in the church.