The Night of Christmas Eve

So stood events: hardly had the devil hidden the moon in his pocket, when all at once it grew so dark that many could not have found their way to the brandy-shop, still less to the clerk's. The witch, finding herself suddenly in darkness, shrieked aloud. The devil coming near her, took her hand, and began to whisper to her those same things which are usually whispered to all womankind. How oddly things go on in this world of ours! - Taken from "The Night of Christmas Eve" written by Nikolai Gogol