Fear is all around us

The deathly Wishes

True!

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Once there were three brothers. One day they decided to go walking through the woods. They came to a river that wasn't very wide but very tricky to cross. They decided that is was far too dangerous to try wading through. The water flowed so swiftly and the stones were so smooth and slippery that they were all but impossible to walk over.

So they built a bridge using the strongest logs and tree branches they could find and started to cross. Halfway across the bridge death appeared. And death spoke to the three boys. He said "You are the first three to ever outsmart death. For this I shall grant you each one wish". The eldest and most brash of the 3 stepped forward. He said "I wish for a belt that will make me unbeatable in combat." and so death granted it. The second oldest came forth and said "I wish for a stone that can raise the dead." Then death pulled from the river a stone and gave it to the second oldest brother and said "This stone shall have the power to raise the dead." Then the youngest and most sharp witted of the 3 stepped forward. He said " I wish for a cloak that shall make death unable to find me." and death, frowning, pulled from his pocket a silk cloak they was as light as air and soft to the touch and gave it to the youngest of the three and without another word, vanished.

Further into the woods went the three brothers, until they came to a place where their path split into 3 different ways. They made up their minds, said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.

The eldest brother came upon a town. There he met a man who said he was the most powerful and skilled fighter of anyone in that town. The eldest brother challenged the man to a duel and won, leaving the other dead on the ground. He went to the pub to have a drink. He then boasted for hours about his magic belt. He bought himself a house and lived there for many happy months. Then one day there came a knock at his door. When he opened the door, he was shot and killed and his belt was taken.

Meanwhile the second oldest was sad and lonely. His one true love had passed away. Then one day remembering the stone, he pulled it from his pocket and walked to the grave of his lost love. He used the stone and brought her back, but something wasn't right. She came back only in a spiritual body and was sad and crying. The brother, seeing what had happened, cast away the stone and took his own life so that he could truly be with his love.

The youngest brother, having been hidden under the cloak, lived a very long life.
But his life became lonely and hard to enjoy. The time had come for him to leave this world and so he passed on the cloak to his son and went willingly with death to join his brothers in the afterlife.

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Clarisse47