As Pantagruel’s reputation as a scholar grows, a grand scholar from England called Thaumaste visits France for the sole purpose of defeating Pantagruel. Thaumaste wishes to debate matters of philosophy without speaking and by only using signs. Pantagruel agrees. Panurge outsmarts the Englishman by miming a punch toward him, causing him to speak aloud in alarm. Panurge then mimes such complex signs, the Englishman cannot keep up. Thaumaste declares Pantagruel wiser than Solomon since even his associate could win against him.

Panurge becomes famous after his defeat of Thaumaste. Buoyed by the success, he pursues a lady of high social standing with a sexually-explicit offer. She repeatedly refuses him. The next day at a holy procession in church, Panurge sprays the lady with the ashes of a female dog in heat, causing all the male dogs around to chase her and urinate on her. The lady runs away to her mansion.

Pantagruel receives news that the Dispodes are sacking his homeland, Utopia. Pantagruel and his men sail to Achoria, which is close to the city of the Amaurots that the Dispodes are currently invading. He asks