Yuletide Story by Mikhail Zoshchenko Summary

The narrator denunciates Yuletide stories as drivel and then relates a Yuletide story learned from an old doctor with white-hair and a voice destroyed by alcoholism. The narrator blames the doctor's decayed physical condition on the events subsequently described. The doctor relates a long-ago visit by Vasily Mitrofanovich Ledentsov, a middle-aged patient presenting with feelings of imminent death. However, a thorough examination demonstrates excellent health so the doctor prescribes an expectorant and requests a follow-up visit. The next day Vasily's aunt appears, states Vasily died the previous night, and requests a death certificate. The doctor accompanies the woman to the apartment where he sees Vasily's corpse on a table, and he writes out a death certificate. He leaves the apartment but forgets his overshoes and so returns whereupon he sees Vasily walking around in perfect...