The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree

"The Beggar Boy at Christ's Christmas Tree" is a Christmas-time short story written by Fyodor Dostoevsky in 1876. It was first published in A Writer's Diary, January 1876. This story is also known as "The Heavenly Christmas Tree".

The author begins by telling us he has made this story up, but that even so, he thinks it must have actually happened—on Christmas Eve, in a great town, at a time of terrible frost.

The boy of the title, "six years old or younger," awakens in a frigid cellar, reaches for his mother, and finds she is "as cold as the wall." He makes his way outside. Apparently he has just arrived from a remote village; this is the first time he has ever experienced the bustling streets of a vibrant city—especially festive, as this is Christmas Eve.