The curious subject of this engraving is linked to contemporary proverbs and literature. An elderly man is asleep, his head resting on cushions next to a warm stove. His inactivity denotes the sin of idleness, as illustrated in a proverb of the day, ‘idling is the pillow of the devil.’ According to medieval theology, laziness begets lewdness and the vice of temptation. Thus, the emblematic, sturdy apparition of the naked woman and the demon using a bellows to puff lustful fantasies into the ear of the dozing idler, making him dream of love while the fumbling Eros tries to raise himself on stilts.