At the centre of this book is an analysis of what Rabelais called ‘la plus grande villanie du monde’—‘the world’s greatest villainy’ (Pantagruel chs. 21–2). In this episode, Panurge enacts a vengeful trick on a Haughty Lady who spurned his advances. Chapter 8 evaluates divergent allegorical readings of the trick in relation to the episode’s farcical, scatological, and legal overtones. Since there is no judicial redress, Rabelais leaves us with an unfixed vilain et énorme cas of sorts: a situation that is morally, criminally, and aesthetically vilain; and énorme in an ever-expanding, spatial sense. Across the chapter, Panurge’s expansive villainy (panourgia) is explored in relation to his ageist–sexist tendencies, and in relation to his taste for facetious litigation (causes grasses) in the first half of Pantagruel. To these may be added his remonstrating against the scandalous ‘heretic’ Raminograbis and his cowardly, diabolical ravings (Tiers Livre chs. 21–3).