THE GUARDS DRESSED AS PRIESTS

Thrice he gave it to him, and thrice he drank, not knowing what it was, and how it would work within his brain.

...

And as he spake he fell back in a drunken sleep.

Here is an episode from a Swedish Rhampsinitus/type 950 tale I ad <3 re (hashtag #Catnip). A detachment of soldiers and their commanding officer are plied with wine, then dressed as priests (vicars) while in an ethyl stupor. It sounds like something out of a fireside yarn or a Wes Anderson film, or some story about the French or Spanish Resistance:

Slutligen kom han på, hur han skulle göra. Han anskaffade tre prästdräkter, en präktig vagn och två hästar. Vid midnatt reser han till galgen och stannar där. Vakten blev förvånad och undrade vad han ville där. Han svarade: ”Mina herrar, jag har blivit uppehållen så, att jag först nu har kommit i hemväg. Vad i all världen gör herrarna här?”, sade han i det han hoppade av vagnen med en korg full av flaskor. 
”Jo, vi är här för att vakta en tjuv som hänger där borta”, sade vakten och pekade bort mot galgen. 
”Han kan väl knappast rymma därifrån, medan herrarna tar sig en sup ihop med mig”, sade gesällen. ”Nej, han var huvudlös, redan när vi fick honom, men vi väntar, att någon annan skall komma och stjäla honom härifrån, det är därför vi håller vakt.” 
Gesällen sade: ”Jag beklagar verkligen att herrarna är utkommenderade på ett så tråkigt uppdrag, men det skadar väl inte, om vi tar oss ett glas. Håll till godo här med vad jag har att erbjuda”. Vakterna lät inte säga sig två gången, de var inte nödbjudna, utan höll till godo och snart hade man tömt det ena glaset efter det andra och officeren och vakterna föll i sömn. Sedan de tömt det ena glaset efter det andra föll de i sömn på sin post. Nu hade gesällen vunnit spelet och han framdrog sina prästkläder och klädde officeren och vakterna till präster, där de låg och sov. Gesällen skar sedan ner sin mästare ur galgen, släpade bort kroppen i skogen, där han begravde densamma. 
När soldaterna vaknade på förmiddagen, stod solen högt på himlen. De såg att kroppen i galgen var borta, och fann sig förvandlade till präster, och förstod snart hela sammanhanget. De beslöt sig för att gå upp till kungen och erkänna sin försummelse, fastän de förstod, att det troligen skulle kosta dem livet. De gick upp till kungen som undrade: 
”Vad nu! vad vill tre präster här idag?” 
Genast föll de ner på knä och sade: ”Vi kan inte nog ödmjuka oss inför ers majestät, vi, som är brottslingar. Vi är inga präster. Vi är de tre vakter som för tre dagar sedan blev anbefallda att vakta den huvudlösa tjuven. Mitt i natten kom en besynnerlig varelse som beklagade sig över oss och ingav oss litet vin, varav vi somnade. När vi vaknade nästa dag fann vi oss i dessa prästkläder och solen stod högt på himlen.” 
Vid detta brast kungen ut i gapskratt och sade: 
”Ni har egentligen gjort er förtjänta av ett hårt straff, men jag förlåter er för den här gången. Jag vill ge er nåd denna gången och den som har spelat er detta spratt vill jag ge en stor belöning. Gå tillbaka till er tjänst och gör aldrig om detta igen!” Nu bugade de sig djupt och avlägsnade sig.
Soldaterna och officeren tackade honom för hans storsinthet och gick därifrån.


Actually, the guards in the original tale got ridiculous haircuts from the thief while drunk. Medieval versions of the story changed these demeaning haircuts into tonsures and had the guards dressed by the thief as friars. The Reformation changed the friars into vicars and suppressed the haircut in Northern versions like the one above.

Motifs:
K 332 Theft by making owner drunk
K332.1.1§, ‡Guards of corpse induced to drink much wine: when drunk corpse stolen.
Curiously, the guard-drugging to retrieve corpses, the folk motif K332.1.1§, also occurs in a Buddhist tale I have earlier commented on:

Another of my obsessions (aside from internationalisms, the 30YW, self-expression values...) is the portrayal of intoxication in fiction, especially if it's used as a narcotic.
There is an exceedingly vast flora of stories where guards get wasted to knock them out -- Othello and The Master Thief, the two first ones I discovered, are only two of them: drugging guards seems to be a folk motif in its own right.
All right, so this snippet from a sacred text is not the only instance of the motif. The story itself comes from a culture of teetotalers, so do the maths.

The story is set at the Queen's parents' in the west, her relatives in the countryside, where her only son has learned the arts and sciences he needs for his future, and where he has developed all the skills necessary to become a king. So the prince has lived secretly with the Queen's parents. But there's a villainous tyrant in the realm, and he has the good old noble couple executed and guards posted at their scaffold.

What then? Get the freaking guards dead drunk!


Voilà a couple of versions to compare:


That night he bought wine and gave it to the guards, who soon became drunk. 

As the soldiers stood watch, he bought some strong wine. When night fell, he returned and walking up to the soldiers said, “You have put in a hard day’s work. You need something to relieve the strain of your labors,” and he handed them each a bottle. The soldiers gladly accepted and soon lay drunk and sound asleep on the ground.

As the soldiers stood watch, he bought some strong wine. When night fell, he returned and walking up to the soldiers said, “You have put in a hard day’s work. You need something to relieve the strain of your labors,” and he handed them each a bottle. The soldiers gladly accepted and soon lay drunk and sound asleep on the ground.

He bought strong wine in the marketplace and brought it to the guards. They took it gladly, and soon lay drunk and asleep.

He bought strong wine in the marketplace and brought it to the guards. They took it gladly, and
soon lay drunk and asleep.

NARRATOR 2:  He brought strong wine from the marketplace out to the guards. They took it gladly, and soon lay drunk and asleep.

Then the prince brought out some liquor and got the guards to drink it. When they had fallen down drunk, he collected sticks, made a pyre...

procured liquor, and gave it to the soldiers to drink. When they were drunk and had fallen, he gathered sticks of wood, built a pyre

their son bought strong wine and made the guards drunk.

bought strong wine and made the guards drunk.

comprò un vino molto forte e fece ubriacare le guardie. 

tomó una cantidad de licor fuerte y lo dio a tomar a las tropas. Cuando todos ellos cayeron embriagados, recogió las estacas, hizo una pira funeral...

riuscì a far bere alle guardie del liquore che aveva portato. Quando le guardie caddero a terra ubriache, riunì i resti dei suoi genitori, costruì una pira...

got strong drink there, and made those soldiers drink it. When they were drunk and had fallen down, he gathered the pieces (of the two bodies), made a funeral pile...

apareceu com uma bebida alcoólica e fez com que os guardas a tomassem. Quando eles caíram bêbados, ele juntou paus, fez uma pira...

... brought out some liquor and got the guards to drink it. When they had fallen down drunk, he collected sticks, made a pyre...

Not to mention all the cautionary tales of young people getting "roofies." The first ones I got to know I learned from Swedish folklorist Bengt af Klintberg. In those stories, the victims are also given STD:s by their aggressor; one of them, "Drogad på Stockholm Central", has a male victim who is infected with AIDS while drugged by his aggressor. Yes, that the most sinister and extreme drugging scenario I have heard of.

Speaking of such tales, it can get even worse. There is one where the aggressor is dressed as BATMAN while he penetrates the unconscious stripling tied to the bedposts --everyone knows the rumours about Batman and Robin...--

The Ether Bunny story is similar to the Batman one... in this one, starring two male university roommates (the younger of whom is straight and friendzones his senior, who is sweet on him), the straight kouhai is lulled to breathe in ether by his unrequited queer senpai, who then proceeds to penetrate. Eventually, it all has to see the light of day when the kouhai shows up at the campus infirmary, complaining about constant rectal soreness as well as drowsiness... Blood samples reveal large quantity of ether in the stripling's bloodstream, and senpai's handkerchief turns out to be the key piece in the puzzle...
This story goes as far back as the Middle Ages: it appears already in the 1001 Nights, and it was included in Gershon Legman’s Rationale of the Dirty Joke. (Both tellings involve predators who drug their victims with alcohol --Moors and their disdain for strong drink!--.) The story has spread widely in the United States and Europe over the last twenty years or so, generally set in military barracks or campus dormitories.