Comrades In This Planting

More on the demon drink, from Alex Gustafson, The Foundation of Death, A Study of the Drink-Question (1887), citing Dr. J. Hamburger and Colin de Plancy on Jewish and “Mussalman” traditions, respectively, and the difference between a lamb and a peacock:

Hamburger: “As Noah was occupied planting the vine, Satan drew near. ‘What do you plant there?’ he asked. ‘A vine,’ said Noah. ‘Of what kind ?’ ‘Its fruit is sweet,’ replied Noah,’ whether fresh or dried, and it also gives wine which rejoices the heart of man.’ ‘So ! Let us be comrades in this planting,’ said Satan. ‘So be it,’ answered Noah. Satan then went away and returned with a lamb, a lion, a pig, and an ape, which he killed one after another so that the vine should be drenched with their blood. Then turning to Noah he said, ‘These are the signs of the power of wine. We see man before he has taken wine as innocent as the lamb; but soon after enjoying it, he is subjected to various changes. The temperate enjoyment of wine makes him brave as a lion, the intemperate use of it turns him into a pig.’”

Colin de Plancy: “When Ham had set out the vine, Satan brought and poured upon it a peacock's blood. When its leaves began to appear he poured over them the blood of an ape; when the grapes began to form he watered them with the blood of a lion, and upon the ripe fruit he spilled the blood of a pig. The vine thus nurtured with the blood of these four animals has acquired these properties: the first glass of wine animates the drinker so that his vivacity is great and his colour heightened; in this condition he resembles the peacock. When the fumes of the liquor rise to his head, he becomes as gay and full of antics as an ape. When he has become drunken he rages as the lion, and in the height of this condition he falls and grovels like the pig sprawling out in heavy slumber.”