Death and the Three Brothers

In summary, Newt dedicated his life to the preservation of Fantastic Beasts.

He believed that wizards should protect Fantastic Beasts and, more importantly, coexist peacefully with intelligent species classified as "humans."

He dedicated his life to this goal.

William generally admires people who have dreams and take action.

He hesitated for a moment, then quickly recounted what he had seen beneath the Black Lake.

Newt is an expert in this area; he should be able to answer William's questions.

"I've seen the same priesthood you saw in the Merpeople tribe," Newt explained.

"Actually, it's not just Merpeople; almost all intelligent creature tribes have priests."

Humans also practiced sacrifices in ancient times, and after obtaining some kind of power, they produced the first powerful sorcerers.

This is the precursor to some wizards.

"Partial?" William noticed Newt's choice of words.

"That's right, not all wizarding power comes from priesthood." Newt hesitated for a moment. "Child, this isn't my area of expertise; Professor Dumbledore has more to say about it."

Newt clearly didn't want to talk about it further.

"The priest opens the entrance to a special realm by performing the proper magical steps."

The unseen forces exist there, just like human beings themselves, which have many forms, including both good and evil.

There is a power of light that can heal, protect, and explore the universe, while there is also a power of darkness that goes against the grain... bringing destruction and chaos.

If the sacrifice is performed properly, an invisible force will obey the prayers of the sacrificer and exert its influence in the world... thus, the sacrificer seems to possess infinite power.

In return, this power requires sacrifices—prayer and praise for the forces of light... and blood or even life for the forces of darkness.

"Whom are those Merpeople... offering sacrifices to?"

"I think it's Siren Siren, the earliest Merpeople," Newt pondered for a moment. "You should have seen that Mermaid Statue, right?"

William and Hermione nodded quickly.

"That statue is the legendary Siren. I've seen Siren statues in various Merpeople tribes around the world."

"Isn't the Siren Siren a myth?" Hermione asked skeptically. "There are also legends about Siren in Muggle stories."

"A story?" Newt shrugged. "Kid, I don't think so."

"The simplest example is that Muggle living at the foot of the Himalayas often see Yeti, and the strange tales of the Loch Ness Monster are also increasingly circulating among Muggle."

To Muggle, Yeti and Kelpie are merely legendary creatures, but to wizards, Yeti and Kelpie are incorrigible Magical Creatures.

They like to show off in front of Muggle and deliberately try to get their attention.

But... this is different.

"Nothing's different. Wizards are just a story to Muggle, like Merlin and King Arthur."

Newt turned his head to look at the sea of clouds.

Many stories evolved from facts. However, in the transmission of these stories to later generations, they were constantly distorted, exaggerated, and even mixed with other stories.

But that doesn't mean it's really nonexistent.

William raised an eyebrow; he had heard similar things from Dumbledore before.

"Is there any evidence?" Hermione asked skeptically.

Newt laughed, "Over the years, I've traveled all over the world, seen countless Magical Creatures, and collected a wealth of firsthand information."

Even if you're interested, I think it would take me a whole school year to explain it to both of you.

"We'd love to take your Care of Magical Creatures," William said with a smile.

"Spare me, child. I'm retired, and Professor Kettleburn is excellent."

After Newt got to know the others, he became more talkative.

"Actually, the simplest way to prove it is that all Merpeople know about Siren, even Merpeople tribes that have been confined to a certain lake for thousands of years."

Isn't this interesting?

William and Hermione listened attentively.

Newt continued, "I also discovered something during my investigation."

Every Merpeople devoutly believed that there was an island in the far sea, inhabited by Siren Siren who sang enchanting songs.

Her singing guided the ghosts into the Underworld.

The Siren are guides to the Underworld, and the most loyal servants of Death.

"Death?" William frowned slightly.

"Is it the Death among the Three Brothers?"

Mercury, the House-elf who had been listening to the story all along, suddenly asked.

"Yes, it's him!" Newt's eyes were incredibly serious.

"Wait, the Three Brothers... isn't that just a story?" William was getting more and more confused.

If, as Newt claims, the Siren truly exist, William could understand it.

He had witnessed the power of the phoenix; the Siren might just be a powerful Merpeople.

But then suddenly they bring up the Underworld and Death... That's as absurd as "I, Ravenclaw, send me money."

"What are the Three Brothers?" Hermione was even more puzzled; she had never even heard of them.

"A bedtime story from the Tales of Beedle the Bard," William explained.

"I've never heard of that before!" Hermione stared at William in surprise.

"These are old stories from the Wizarding World, supposedly written by Old Beedle, and every young wizard knows them."

"How did you know?" Hermione asked curiously.

"The wizard storybooks I bought for Anne. Before school started, she would often pester me to read her bedtime stories at night," William explained.

What is the Tale of the Three Brothers?

William cleared his throat and said, "Once upon a time, there were Three Brothers traveling along a secluded, winding path. It was almost dusk."

As they walked, they came to a river. The water was too deep to wade across, and swimming across would be too dangerous.

However, the Three Brothers were skilled in magic, and with a wave of their wands, a bridge appeared over the wide water. When they reached the middle of the bridge, a hooded figure blocked their way.

Death was blocking the way, and he was furious because he had lost three new sacrifices—travelers usually drowned in this river.

But Death was cunning; he pretended to congratulate the three brothers on their magic, saying that they had cleverly escaped Death and each of them would receive a reward.

The eldest brother is a warlike wizard who wants the most powerful magic wand in the world!

Death walked to an Elder Wood tree on the shore, made a wand from a hanging branch, and gave it to the eldest brother.

The second son wanted the ability to resurrect the dead. So Death picked up a stone from the shore, gave it to the second son, and told him that the stone had the power to bring the dead back to life.

Death asked the youngest of the three what he wanted. The youngest, the third, was the most humble and the smartest, so he asked for something that would allow him to leave the place without being followed by Death.

Death reluctantly gave him his Invisibility Cloak.

William quickly finished telling the story of Death and the Tale of the Three Brothers.

"In the end, the other two brothers died, but the third brother escaped the sight of Death and lived to a very old age before finally taking off his Invisibility Cloak, handing it to his son, and then welcoming Death as if meeting an old friend."

"It's just a fairy tale," Hermione began to support William's argument. "There can't be Death..."

"Wait," Mercury suddenly interrupted.

"The story of Death and the Tale of the Three Brothers that my great-grandfather told me was a different version."

The content is completely different from Old Beedle's!

Mercury's words took William by surprise.

Are there even new versions of these bedtime stories?

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