The Poor Man of Nippur

Nippur

Nippur was one of the most ancient of all the Sumerian cities. It was the special seat of the worship of the Sumerian god Enlil, the "Lord Wind," ruler of the cosmos subject to An alone...

is an Akkadian

Akkadian language

Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...

 story dating from around 1500 BC. It is attested by only three texts, only one of which is more than a small fragment.

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

Enlil

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death.-Early life:Members...

. 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.