A árvore de Natal na Casa de Cristo

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

A short Christmas story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky first published in 1876.

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Christmas, Fiction, Russian Literature, Russia, Audiobook

12 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 1876

About the author

Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский (Russian)

Works, such as the novels Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), of Russian writer Feodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky or Dostoevski combine religious mysticism with profound psychological insight.

Very influential writings of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin included Problems of Dostoyevsky's Works (1929),

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky composed short stories, essays, and journals. His literature explores humans in the troubled political, social, and spiritual atmospheres of 19th-century and engages with a variety of philosophies and themes. People most acclaimed his Demons(1872) .

Many literary critics rate him among the greatest authors of world literature and consider multiple books written by him to be highly influential masterpieces. They consider his Notes from Underground of the first existentialist literature. He is also well regarded as a philosopher and theologian.

See also:
Russian → Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский
French → Fédor Dostoïevski
French → Fiodor Dostoïevski
Spanish → Fiódor Dostoyevski
Portuguese → Fiódor Dostoiévski

Reviews

[Federico DN]

Not so Merry Christmas.

Little boy is lonely and sad in the dark room, the old lady in the corner is mean, the other is drunk, and mommy is sleeping and won't wake up. Giving up, he decides to go out for a walk and do some sightseeing around the city. It's very cold outside—but it's Christmas!

Man, Russian literature is poignant AF! My first Dostoevsky, and hopefully the beginning of many more. I can only speak for this little shortie, but if all his writings are as impactful, I can certainly see where the author's legendary fame comes from.

I can only say so much about this story without spoiling it, so I'm just going to say that... it is definitely memorable, more than Recommendable, but not at all the average christmassy story. Take that as it may.

It’s public domain. You can find it HERE.



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PERSONAL NOTE :
[1876] [7p] [Classics] [4.5] [Extremely Recommendable] [The Kopek!] [Little Match Girl]
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★★★★☆ The Heavenly Christmas Tree. [4.5]

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No tan Feliz Navidad.

Pequeño niño está triste y solo en la oscura habitación, la anciana del rincón es mala, el otro está borracho, y mamucha duerme y no despierta. Dándose por vencido, decide salir a pasear y hacer un poco de turismo por la ciudad. Hace mucho frío afuera—¡pero es Navidad!

Caray, ¡la literatura rusa sí que puede ser terriblemente emocional! Mi primer Dostoevsky, y con suerte el comienzo de muchos más. Sólo puedo hablar por este corto, pero si todos sus escritos son igual de impactantes, ciertamente puedo ver de dónde proviene la legendaria fama del autor.

No puedo decir mucho sobre esta historia sin espoilearla, así que solo voy a decir que... definitivamente es memorable, más que Recomendable, pero no en absoluto la historia promedio navideña. Tóma eso como quieras.

Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.



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NOTA PERSONAL :
[1876] [7p] [Clásicos] [4.5] [Extremadamente Recomendable] [El Kopek!] [La pequeña cerillera]
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[Hal Brodsky]

Dostoyevsky tries to put a happy spin on a slow death. (Memo to self: Do NOT read Russian authors over the holidays no matter how cheerful the title sounds).

[Ammara Abid]

Heart touching ♡

[Laysee]

Dostoevsky told his readers that he imagined this story that happened one frosty Christmas night. It was all made up, yet he felt that the harshness of the scene he was about to describe could well be true.

A little child woke up in a dark, damp cellar. He was shivering with cold and extreme hunger. 'How he longed for some morsel to eat.’ No help was available in that God-forsaken darkness where he sat hoping his very ill mother would awake. Other lodgers were out; an old rheumatic nurse scolded him; a big dog howled. Dostoevsky's evocative writing allowed me to feel the child's cold, stiff fingers, his aching toes, and his utter helplessness.

It is hard to think of people like this child who are forgotten and destitute at Christmas, a season when goodwill toward men ought to prevail. This story left me teary.

For friends who are interested, this little story is available in the public domain such as the Project Gutenberg e-book project.

[Lesle]

A very heartfelt story is The Heavenly Christmas Tree.
In such a short story it goes from lavish setups of Christmas dinners to some living in the Samara Famine that came about because of the War and food not being transported by rail.
The little boy awoke cold and hungry and with the loss of his Mammy. He goes about looking through windows of beautiful Christmas Firs and displays of food. He tries to sneak into one home only to be shoved back out with a Kopeck given to him. He finally finds a warm place where children are playing under Christ's Christmas tree and he begs pardon.

Fyodor Dosty seems to have a good grasp of human condition and can put it into words so well.

[Jodi (on semi-hiatus)]

This very short story (7 pages) was written more than 150 years ago, and begins as Dostoevsky admits that, though he made the story up, it could happen anywhere. That was certainly true in 1876 but, hopefully, it couldn't happen today!

The story begins in the cellar of a rooming house, where a 6-year-old boy is very hungry and very cold, his sick mother lays on a pallet in the corner. He’s unable to wake her and slips outside, hoping to find a morsel to eat. He hadn’t understood that his mother was already dead. The child walks around the town. It’s Christmas Eve and, through the windows, he can see happy people eating, drinking, and dancing. A larger boy approaches him from behind, whacks him over the head, steals his cap, and pushes him to the ground. When he gets up, he runs away terrified, and finds a woodpile to hide behind. As he lays there, literally freezing to death, he suddenly feels very happy, and warm all over! He hears his mother sing, sees happy children laughing and dancing, and he feels loved! From above him, someone whispers, “Come to my Christmas tree, little one.” He sees a very bright light, and a beautiful fir tree like none he’s ever seen before. He’s told, “This is Christ’s Christmas tree. Christ always has a Christmas tree on this day, for the little children who have no tree of their own.”

The story makes us conflicted. On one hand, we feel despair and cruelty in the death of a young child. On the other hand, we feel hope and consolation that maybe there is a Heaven.

4 “A-Joyful-Christmas-to-all” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[philosophie]

I am a novelist, and I suppose I have made up this story. I write “I suppose,” though I know for a fact that I have made it up, but yet I keep fancying that it must have happened somewhere at some time, that it must have happened on Christmas Eve in some great town in a time of terrible frost.
It would be terrible, though highly likely, if this tale indeed happened somewhere sometime. Essentially, this short story resembles Andersen's The Little Match Girl, the setting, the horrific ending. This is definitely not a light-hearted christmas story, however it is skillfully written and undeniably worth the read.

[hosein]

Heart-wrenching story. it reminded me of "The Little Match Girl" story, that my sister told me many times when i was a child.

[Rana]

القصة فكرتني جداً بقصة بائعة الكبريت ، واللي وجعتلي قلبي وقت ما قرأتها ..

موجودة ضمن المجموعة القصصية البطل الصغير وقصص أخرى ..

بتحكي عن طفل صغير في عشية عيد الميلاد ، بيفضل يجري في الشوارع ويشوف الأضواء ، والناس وهي مبسوطة ، وأنواع مختلفة من الأكل ، والبيوت الدافيه بينما هو في الخارج ، حزين ووحيد وجائع وبردان

ولما بيحاول يقترب من أحد الأماكن ويدخل ، بيطرده أصحاب المكان ..

الولد بيجري ويهرب من قسوة الناس وهو بيبكي ..
كل اللي كان عايزه إنه ياكل ويحس بالدفا زي الناس اللي شايفهم حواليه

تستحق القراءة

[عماد العتيلي]

What a heartbreaking story!
It's always wonderful to begin the new year with my dear friend and master, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Happy New Year 2020

[Miriam Simut]

Wow, for such a short little Christmas story, this really packs a punch.

[Evoli]

This was a horribly heartbreaking story... Well, what else did I expect from Dostoevsky, to be fair???
Honestly speaking, this short story really reminded me of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" due to its atmosphere, setting and horrific ending.
Definitely an amazing expression of anger and frustration concerning the fact of neglected humanity when being surrounded by "the blessed".
Despite being such a short story, it touches upon many important things, like poverty, different classes with varying social status and certainly has some historical elements in it (like "famous" famines that happened during the time or around the time when this was written).

[Brian]

Amazing expression of anger concerning neglected humanity walking in the midst of the blessed.

[Kashan]

Honestly, I gave this 3 stars, even though it reflects real life at the time, but there's still not much going on here besides the criticism of society. I am not saying it’s bad, likewise but I still say it deserves 3 stars.
In my opinion, the child is actually in the afterlife because he died, which changes the whole meaning of the story. When his mother says, “Come to my Christmas tree, little one,” it doesn’t feel like reality anymore, it feels like a different world where he is finally safe. The Christmas tree here is not just a holiday thing, it becomes a symbol of warmth, love, and peace everything he never had in his real life. Dostoevsky is showing that the world failed him, that no one cared enough while he was alive, and the only place where he finds comfort is beyond this life. The moment with his mother is especially powerful because it shows that love still exists for him, just not in the world he lived in. To me, this makes the story both heartbreaking and comforting at the same time, because it criticizes a cruel society but also gives a sense that he is no longer suffering.

[Red]

It must be the saddest story I have ever read in my entire life..

[božica]

not funny, cried.

[Shauny Free Palestine]

A story that is universal, one that is sad and touching and the author wishing there were less injustices in the world.

[Shreyas]

'The Heavenly Christmas Tree' by Fyodor Dostoevsky [Translated by Constance Garnett].

“This is Christ’s Christmas tree,” they answered. “Christ always has a Christmas tree on this day, for the little children who have no tree of their own….”

Rating: 4.5/5.





Review:
When my friend recommended this short story to me a few days ago, I was honestly surprised that Dostoevsky had written a Christmas story. Once I was done with the latest reading commitment (Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson) and full of an earnest Christmas spirit, I decided to finally read this short story.

Fyodor Dostoevsky was quick to shatter my preconceived notion that this was going to be a cutesy Christmas tale. Well, to be honest, seeing it was a Dostoevsky story, I was anyway assuming there was going to be some depressive twist towards the end. But this time around, he just delivers a morbid punch by starting the story with the death of the protagonist's mother. It also doesn't help that the protagonist in the question is an innocent little kid who wakes up cold and hungry and then traverses the different streets of the town marveling at the Christmas decorations. He sneaks into one of the homes that are offering free food, only to be unceremoniously shoved out of it—thus eliciting a strong feeling of anger and frustration among the readers concerning neglected humanity when being surrounded by the "blessed and privileged" classes of the society.

The Heavenly Christmas Tree is extremely short, just ranging around five to six pages, but every single line is dripping with the sheer brilliance of Dostoevsky's writing. He touches upon many social issues, like poverty and social inequality, and he also references certain historical elements like famines and unfortunate railway incidents that happened when this story was being written. It is a heartbreaking story that leaves an everlasting impression even days after you have read it.



PS: Never trust classic Russian authors to write a happy Christmas story, no matter how cheerful the title sounds!

[Dhimitra]

Tregimth shumë prekës i një fëmije që humb mamanë e tij dhe më pas del shikon qytetin e madh, dritat, pemët e vitit të ri; pa patur atë mundësinë e të shijuarit apo të të qënit ngrohtë pranë familjes me një pemë festive plot drita… ai mund të festojë me të ëmën vetëm te pema e vitit të ri te Krishti…

[Mani Gobind]

Perfection
Sheer perfection

This is what literature should be
Literature should have the ability to plant a warm smile on your face
Literature should have the ability to move you to tears
Literature should transport you to the world the author creates, so that when you close your eyes, you see the world.
Literature should put you in the place of the protagonist
Literature should leave you thinking about what you read, hours, even days after you have read them.

This does all that. And more.

[Paola Micheli]

｡°(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)°｡

[Elizabeth (Alaska)]

This is such a sad story. At first I thought it might be something on the order of Dickens' A Christmas Carol with an uplifting moral ending. It is not, though one could say its sadness should be the impetus for more generosity not just at Christmas but throughout the year.

[Beda]

4.0 Stars A sad little short story that I read with the Dostoyevsky sub on Reddit. The story is about a little boy who wakes up cold in a St Petersburg cellar with is sick mother inside him.

The tragedy of poverty and the callousness of people to the plight of the poor is the message here, as is the hope that they will fare better in the afterlife, where poverty, illness, hunger and cold are no more. Lets hope so!

[Cansu]

Review of "The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree" by Dostoevsky
“The Beggar Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree” (1876) was written by Feodor Mikhailouich Dostoevsky. He depicts Petersburg people who do not have equal lives in this story. The story is set on Christmas Eve in a big unnamed town where was not mentioned name of the town. Begins with a boy who is six-years-old; the boy wakes up in a cold damp cellar. He has got a sick mother. In another corner of the room, there is an old woman of eighty. She is groaning with rheumatism. The boy touches his mother’s face and she does not move at all. The boy does not understand that his mother is dead. He goes out of the cellar and wanders the streets, looks at the windows of the houses and he sees happy children, dolls, huge the Christmas trees and delicious cookies. The boy starts to have a dream and he sees his mother, Christ’s Christmas tree and happy orphan children as he shivers from the cold. The story is told in a dramatic way because unequal lives may upset the readers. Additionally, the story reminds me of “The Little Match Girl” by Hans Christian Andersen because the match girl and the boy do have a similarly miserable life and similar age. Also, the Characters which in the story, do not have names. I think, Dostoevsky wants to give a message to his readers. He did not give a name because their existence is not important for their society. Society excludes these people according to Dostoevsky. Briefly, the writer emphasizes the insensitive of the upper class. Also, there are divine motives in the story. I offer “The Beggar Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree to drama fans because it is dramatic, clear and can be finished in 10 minutes. You will never forget this story. Actually, Dostoevsky’s works always leave a mark on his readers.

[Frank Pray]

How many stories have an opening line: "I am a novelist . . . ?" Dostoyevsky' heart for the rejected and poor is clear in this short story.

[Yameen]

Pain

[The Bibliophile Doctor]

This story can be read here

https://orthochristian.com/58527.html

I haven't read much Russian literature yet but this year I want to. I started with this short story by Dostoevsky and I wasn't disappointed.

Sometimes a story of few pages can make you feel a lot many things that a book of 400-500 pages couldn't do. This short story is one of them. It's a story of a boy and his mom, destitute, looking for survival but sometimes it is not possible to.

I won't say much about it but it made my mind numb for a long time. It's short story so can be finished in one setting, so go ahead and give it a try.

[Nilufar Khaydarova]

давно так не плакала

[Salem ☥]

"And down below in the morning the porter found the little dead body of the frozen child on the woodstack; they sought out his mother too.... She had died before him. They met before the Lord God in heaven."

[G]

Pessoas pobres que saem de suas pequenas cidades para a cidade grande. Uma das facetas mais tristes e deprimentes do êxodo rural.

Famílias, mãe, filho sem nome. Indigentes. Passando necessidade das coisas mais básicas, como a falta de comida e acesso ao mínimo de calor durante o inverno russo.

Dostoyevsky não tem pena do personagem ou do leitor.