Once upon a time there were three brothers that were walking down a road at twilight.

In time the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass, but they were talented in the magical arts and waved their wands and made a bridge.

Before they could pass, they found their path blocked by a hooded figure. It was Death and he felt cheated because travelers usually drowned in the river.
However Death was cunning and pretended to congratulate the brothers for their magic and said that each had earned a prize for being clever enough to evade him.

The oldest asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence, so Death fashioned him one from an elder tree that stood nearby.

The second brother decided he wanted to humiliate Death even further and asked for the power to recall loved ones from the grave. So Death plucked a stone from the river and offered it to him.

Finally, Death turned to the third brother. He was humble and asked for something that would allow him to leave without being followed by Death. Death handed over his own cloak of invisibility.

The first brother went to a far away village. With the elder wand in hand, he killed a wizard with whom he once quarelled. Drunk with the elder wand's power, he bragged of his invincibility, but later that night, another wizard took the wand and slit the brother's throat for good measure. Thus Death took the first brother for his own.

The second brother went to his home the stone in hand. To his delight, the girl he wanted to marry, before her untimely death, was standing before him. Soon, she turned sad and cold, for she did not belong in the mortal world. With ongoing longing, the second brother killed himself so that he could join her: so Death took the second brother.

As for the third brother, Death searched for many years, but could not find the third brother. Only when the brother gained great age, he took the cloak and passed it to his son.

He then welcomed Death as an old friend and went with him gladly - surpassing this life as
equals.