The Poor Man of Nippur

The Poor Man of Nippur is a Babylonian story about a poor man who conceives of a plan to get himself invited to a feast by offering the mayor his only possession - a goat. But the mayor instead gives him but gristle, and throws him from his house.

The Poor Man then conceives of an even better plan to get his revenge, earning (and spending) a considerable amount of wealth to sneak into the house of the mayor and give him thrice his comeuppance. One moral of the story is that one should always adhere to the conventions of hospitality. Another, perhaps, is that that pride can drive us to greater heights than hunger.

Here's the story told on film - the first Babylonian Language film ever made, apparently.