The Origin of Wine

Ren Zu’s two eyes become his eldest son Verdant Great Sun and his daughter Desolate Ancient Moon. Verdant Great Sun’s closeness to his sister turns to feelings she refuses, and he asks wisdom Gu for help, who ignores him until persistence earns a hint: drink the wine the honey peach monkeys brew in the east, then return. He does, gains a rosy flush, and calls the wine sweet. Wisdom Gu then sends him west for the psychic monkeys’ bitter wine, which darkens his tongue, and he reports that wine can be bitter too. ^{ch. 213}

Told that wine, like love and life, is both, he goes north for the vajra monkeys’ strong wine, drinks past his limit, vomits, and burns from within until his hair catches fire permanently. He tells wisdom Gu that too much wine comes back up. Everything, he says, should be taken in moderation. Wisdom Gu, laughing, sends him to the Skywater monkeys’ clear wine, and a light taste leaves him forgetting his worries, a joy he says he will not pass to the sober. Wisdom Gu chuckles and leaves quietly, and monkeys, not humans, are the first to brew wine, with humans calling every one of their wines monkey wine. ^{ch. 213}