This is a 1762 illustration of a woman warding off the devil with her genitalia.
The illustration was used to accompany the poem, “The Devil of Pope Fig Island,” written by a 17th century French poet by the name of Jean de la Fontaine.
The poem is pretty long, so I’ll just give you the gist of the story.
One day a devil randomly shows up to a small village on Pope Fig Island and starts causing a ruckus and terrorizing the villagers. The devil then approaches a farmer named Phil and demands that he give him half his crops.
Phil complies and gives the devil half of his crops, but he only gives him the leaves and stems and not the actual vegetables. The devil is embarrassed and annoyed at being outwitted by a lowly farmer and threatens to punish Phil and take his portion of the vegetables within a week’s time.
Frightened, Phil runs home and tells his wife, Perretta, what had happened. She tells him to not worry and that she’ll take care of the devil.
When the devil returns, Phil jumps into a tub of holy water for protection. Perretta greets the devil with tears and disheveled hair. She tells the devil that Phil is a terrifying man who beats her mercilessly and even gave her a deep gash with his claws.
This is when Perretta lifts her skirt to show the devil her genitalia. The devil is horrified and runs away, never to return.
Here’s the passage from the poem that describes the exact event of the illustration:
“For God's sake try, my lord, to get away;
Just now I heard the savage fellow say,
He'd with his claws your lordship tear and slash:
See, only see, my lord, he made this gash;
On which she showed:—what you will guess, no doubt,
And put the demon presently to rout,
Who crossed himself and trembled with affright:
He'd never seen nor heard of such a sight,
Where scratch from claws or nails had so appeared;
His fears prevailed, and off he quickly steered…”
