I cannot remember where I found this story but it’s stuck with me over the years

Once upon a time, a village near the sea was burned to the ground by an advancing army. The few survivors of this raid made for the mountains in the north and the oceans to the west. None dared to go east, as that was the direction from which their persecutors came, and none went to the forests of the south, as they were holy and forbidden. Bloodied by the swords of the cavalry and seared by their torches, however, three reckless young men sought shelter beneath the blessed branches.

They traveled aimlessly in the forest for four days and four nights, nursing their wounds and catching naïve prey with furtive hands. On the fifth day, they were tracking rabbits in the underbrush when the trail led them to the remains of a crumbled cairn. The youngest man, seeking respite from an afternoon of poor hunting, convinced the other two to pause and help him rebuild it.

As they replaced the last stone on the mound, the ghost of an old priest appeared from behind the rocks and spoke to them. He had died, and with his death promised to protect the forest for one hundred years; however, before those years had passed, his cairn had been damaged by a flood and he had been unable to ascend to heaven. To express his gratitude, the ghost offered the advice and knowledge of the dead before he ascended at dawn.

The eldest, the son of a tailor, stepped forward first and demanded to know where to find his sister, who had been kidnapped by sea pirates several years before. The ghost told him of an island, always sought after and always defended by the most treacherous of corsairs. He would find her there after sailing around the world, said the priest, but lose something just as precious on the way.

And so the eldest resolved to scour the seas until he had found her, and never tarry or pause to find that something to be lost.

The second young man, a poor farmer dark from long days in the sun, asked in which direction he should go to find wealth waiting for him. The ghost thought about it, and told him of a land far across the western seas, sowed with gold and poisoned with ambrosia. He would go there, said the priest, but will step on foreign shores a changed and sinful man, and those lands would never be his.

And so the second looked into the fading sky and dreamed of earth dripping with gold, and swore on his own razed fields, desiccated with salt and nourished with iron, to become a holy man and go on with the hand of god at his back.

The youngest man was silent as the ghost turned to him, and requested only that his question be answered in the morning. The priest agreed to this and allowed them to camp before his cairn, and the other two men went about their divided duties, eyes wild with the dreams of their future.

As the farmer and the tailor's son talked into the night, the youngest sat outside the ring of firelight and thought about his question. The moon turned overhead and the stars wheeled about, fading with predawn light as the travelers stomped upon the embers and readied for departure, the priest still waiting before the cairn for the last question. The first two men, anxious to begin their journeys, departed together, following the stream to where it met the ocean.

And so the youngest at last stepped forward to voice his question, and this is what he asked the priest: As my only friends have abandoned me for the seas, I will stay here and rule the forest. Whom should I trust to remain loyal and virtuous?

The ghost considered this and, in response, pointed towards a tall dead tree protruding from the forest. An eagle had abandoned her egg there, said he. Care for it, and it and all of its descendants will honor you. He then bid his farewell and ascended to heaven, leaving the young man truly alone in the rays of the sixth morning's sun.

The eldest man searched the world for many years, eventually bringing a wife and children on his travels. He took back his sister, and yet lost his first son along the way; he buried the youth at sea and took the rest of his family with him to live near where his oldest home had been destroyed. So his life passed.

The farmer found his way to the foreign land, along the way amassing a crew and crossing swords with other sailors intent on finding paradise. His travels had changed him, though, and he stole the food offered to him and killed the people to whom the gold belonged. He was driven out by their anger and by other buccaneers, and returned with the seeds of a new fruit to live near where his oldest home had been destroyed. So his life passed.

The youngest man ruled the forests with the eagle and the eagle's chicks for many years, eventually allowing other people to build houses among the trees. They loved him as their landlord and brought a lost little boy for him to raise against his loneliness. So his life passed.

The priest waited for them all in heaven, greeted them one by one as they slipped from life. He asked them if they resented the advice he gave. No, they replied. And together, they laughed and faded away into the deepest eternal sleep.