The Poor Man Of Nippur
The Poor Man of Nippur is an Akkadian story dating from around 1500 BC. It is attested by only three texts, only one of which is more than a small fragment.
The tablet tells a story of a man fallen on hard times who resolves to give a goat as a gift to the mayor of Nippur. He imagines that he will be invited to share in the feast, and win some favour with the powerful in the process. Instead he is insulted by Nippur's corrupt mayor and vows to take threefold revenge. This he does, through a series of tricks and disguises. The tale is replete with role reversals, ironic subversion of expectations, and pointed puncturing of pomposity, as well as some good slapstick violence: the stuff of humour down the ages. A colophon on the tablet (S.U. 51/78) tells us that it was copied by trainee scribe Nabû-riḫtu-uṣur 'for the perusal of Qurdi-Nergal'. A second small fragment of this text was also discovered at Sultantepe, and another in the library of Ashurbanipal. However, without S.U. 51/78, we would have no access to this work of Akkadian literature whose discovery was so revolutionary, both in the world of assyriology and in folkloristics, where it has also attracted great attention. (Eva Miller, University of Oxford)
There was a man, a citizen of Nippur, destitute and poor, Gimil-Ninurta was his name, an unhappy man, In his city, Nippur, he lived, working hard, but Had not the silver befitting his class, Had not the gold befitting people (of his stature). His storage bins lacked pure grain, His insides burned, craving food, and His face was unhappy, craving meat and first-class beer; Having no food, he lay hungry every day, and Was dressed in garments that had no change. In his unhappy mood, he thought to himself: I'll strip off my garments which have no change, and In my city of Nippur's market I'll buy a sheep! So he stripped off his garments which had no change, and In his city of Nippur's market he bought a three-year-old goat. In his unhappy mood, he thought to himself: Suppose I slaughter this goat in my yard- There could be no feast, for where is the beer? My friends in the neighbourhood would find out and be furious, And my family and relatives would be angry with me.
Instead he presents the goat to the mayor. This is interpreted as a bribe and Gimil-Ninurta is given only a mug of third-class beer and the leavings of the meal before being thrown out. Through the medium of the gatekeeper Gimil-Ninurta vows to avenge his mistreatment three times over but when the mayor hears this he laughs all day.
Gimil-Ninurta hires a chariot and robe from the king on credit. Returning to the mayor's house with a locked chest containing two birds he presents himself as a royal courier conveying gold to the temple of Enlil. Arising in the night and opening the chest to release the birds, he beats the mayor for the purported theft and is compensated with two minas of red gold, twice the sum owed to the king.
Gimil-Ninurta calls upon the mayor again disguised as an itinerant physician come to treat his wounds. Claiming that his medication is only effective in the darkness, he lures the mayor into a private room, binds the mayor's hands and feet to stakes and beats him once more.
The mayor instructs his staff to watch for his persecutor but Gimil-Ninurta hires an accomplice to identify himself as 'the man with the goat' at the mayor's gate and draw them out. He hides under a bridge near the mayor's house and beats the mayor nigh to death while he is alone.