Bowed under his toil, dripping with perspiration, stood the patriarch Noah, laboring to break the hard clods. All at once Satan appeared and said to him,—
“What new undertaking have you in hand? What new fruit do you expect to extract from these clods?”
“I plant the grape,” answered the patriarch.
“The grape! proud plant, most precious fruit! joy and delight to men! Your labor is great; will you allow me to assist you? Let us share the labor of producing the vine.”
The patriarch in a fit of exhaustion consented.
Satan hastened, got a lamb, slaughtered it, and poured its blood over the clods of earth. “Thence shall it come,” said Satan, “that those who taste of the juice of the grape, shall be soft-spirited and gentle as this lamb.”
But Noah sighed; Satan continued his work; he caught a lion, slew that, and poured the blood upon the soil prepared for the plant. “Thence shall it come,” said he, “that those who taste the juice of the grape shall be strong and courageous as the lion.”
Noah shuddered. Satan continued his work; he seized a pig and slaughtered it, and drenched the soil with its blood. “Thence shall it come,” said he, “that those who drink of the juice of the grape in excess, shall be filthy, degraded, and bestial as the swine.”[246]
The Mussulman tradition is somewhat similar.
“When Ham had planted the vine, Satan watered it with the blood of a peacock. When it thrust forth leaves, he sprinkled it with the blood of an ape; when it formed grapes, he drenched it with the blood of a lion; when the grapes were ripe, he watered it with the blood of a swine.