Rav Ulla was once asked, To what extent is one bound to honor his father and mother? To which he replied, " See what a Gentile of Askelon once did, Dammah ben Nethiua by name. The sages one day required goods to the value of sixty myriads, for which they were ready to pay the price, but the key of the store-room happened to be under the pillow of his father, who was fast asleep, and Dammah would not disturb dim.* Rabbi Eliezer was once asked the same question, and he gave the same answer, adding an interesting fact to the illustration: " The sages were seeking after precious stones for the high priest's breastplate, to the value of some sixty or eighty myriads of golden denarii, but the key of the jewel-chest happened to be under the pillow of his father, who was asleep at the time, and he would not wake him.
In the following year, however, the Holy One — blessed be He! — rewarded him with the birth of a red heifer among his herds, for which the sages readily paid him such a sum as compensated him fully for the loss he sustained in honoring his parent.*