The tale describes three wizard brothers who, while travelling together, come to a river too deep to wade and too dangerous to swim. Being proficient in magic, they conjure a bridge. Halfway across, they are met by a hooded figure of Death, who is angry that they have cheated him out of three new victims. Cunningly, Death pretends to congratulate them and offers each brother a prize for their cleverness.
The tale then follows the fate of each brother. The eldest brother travels to a village, seeks out a wizard with whom he had quarrelled, and kills him with the Elder Wand. That night, while boasting of his invincible wand, another wizard steals the wand and slits the first brother's throat. The second brother returns home and uses the Resurrection Stone to bring back the woman he had hoped to marry before her untimely death. However, she is a sad, cold echo of her former self and does not truly belong in the mortal world. Driven mad with hopeless longing, the second brother kills himself to truly join her. The youngest brother uses the Invisibility Cloak to hide from Death for many years. Only when he has attained a great age does he take off the cloak, give it to his son, and greet Death as an old friend, departing this life as an equal.
The tale is widely considered a fictional children's story in the wizarding world, but a minority of wizards believe it refers to three real, powerful magical objects known as the Deathly Hallows. The legend states that any wizard who unites all three Hallows would become the Master of Death.
The title of “Master of Death” is interpreted in two ways. The most common interpretation, sought by dark wizards like Gellert Grindelwald, is that possessing all three Hallows grants invincibility. However, Albus Dumbledore came to believe the true meaning was to accept mortality, as the third brother did. This makes the true master not one who seeks to flee Death, but one who understands that there are things worse than dying.
The Tale of the Three Brothers is one of the most famous stories from The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Most wizarding children, including Ron Weasley, grow up hearing the tale and dismiss it as a simple moral fable. The moral is typically interpreted as a caution against seeking power or trying to cheat Death. For centuries, a small number of wizards have embarked on the Quest for the Hallows, believing the story to be a factual account of the artifacts' creation. The symbol of the Deathly Hallows—a triangle enclosing a circle, bisected by a vertical line—was used by these believers. It was later adopted by the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, causing the symbol to be associated with Dark Arts by many. Albus Dumbledore theorised that the Peverell brothers were not recipients of gifts from Death, but were instead the highly powerful and ingenious original creators of the Hallows. The story of their encounter with Death was a legend that grew around their extraordinary inventions. Harry Potter is a direct descendant of Ignotus Peverell.
The tale is the central key to understanding the Deathly Hallows in the final year of the Second Wizarding War. Hermione Granger receives a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in Albus Dumbledore's will, which has the Hallows' symbol drawn on the page containing the story. She reads the tale aloud to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley while they are visiting Xenophilius Lovegood. Mr. Lovegood explains the tale's hidden meaning and the existence of the Deathly Hallows, which gives the trio crucial insight into Lord Voldemort's actions—specifically his search for the Elder Wand. The tale allows Harry Potter to identify his own Invisibility Cloak as the third Hallow and to understand the nature of the Resurrection Stone when he finds it inside the Golden Snitch. This knowledge forces Harry to choose between pursuing the Hallows or continuing his hunt for Horcruxes, a central conflict in his journey. Ultimately, Harry embodies the wisdom of the third brother, choosing to face Voldemort and his own death willingly, thus becoming the true Master of Death.