Abstract: Can we talk about a propaedeutic of Rabelaisian metaphor? The article examines the simultaneous denunciation of literalism and allegorism in relation to anti-monastic satire; the way in which the exploitation of the Adages doubles up as a relativising of their supposed wisdom, in relation to the figure of Épistémon; and, finally, the large-scale narrative prosification of exploratory metaphorical networks able to advance the plot, particularly in the Tiers Livre.