Three brothers set out on a journey — and encountered a witch who tested them with riddles, tricks, and dark magic. The tale, preserved in Jewish and comparative folklore collections, follows the classic pattern of the youngest brother succeeding where his elders fail.
The first brother confronted the witch with strength. He failed. Physical power meant nothing against sorcery. The second brother tried cunning. He also failed. Cleverness without wisdom is no match for supernatural deceit.
The third and youngest brother approached the witch differently. He did not fight her and did not try to outwit her. Instead, he appealed to a power greater than both of them — calling upon God, reciting verses of Torah, invoking the sacred Name that no dark power can withstand.
The witch's magic shattered. Her illusions dissolved. She was revealed for what she truly was: a hollow vessel of borrowed power, impressive only to those who did not know the source of real authority.
The sages loved this story pattern because it encoded a theological truth: strength fails, cleverness fails, but faith succeeds. Not because faith is magical — but because faith connects a person to a power that transcends all worldly and otherworldly forces. The youngest brother did not defeat the witch through his own ability. He defeated her by stepping aside and letting God do the fighting.
The three brothers represent three approaches to evil: force, strategy, and surrender to the divine. Only the third works — because evil, in the Jewish understanding, is not an independent power. It exists only as far as God permits it. Invoke God, and evil's permission is revoked.