Rabbi Eliezer was asked: How far does one have to respect parents? He said: Go and see what Dama Ben Nitina, a non-Jew in Ashkelon, did for his father.
The rabbis wanted to buy from Dama a jewel of extraordinary worth and beauty to replace missing stones on the High Priest's breast plate. The price was 600,000 gold coins. Dama's jewels were kept in a locked chest. The key to the chest was resting under the head of Dama's father, who was fast asleep. Dama would not disturb his sleeping father, and so he lost the sale.
A year later, God rewarded him. A red cow was born in Dama's herd. (This type of totally red-heifer was extremely rare. The Jewish people in the time of the Holy Temple used a red cow for spiritual purification rites and would pay a princely sum to acquire it.) The rabbis came to Dama to buy it from him. He told them: "I know you would pay me whatever amount I ask. But I will only ask you for the amount I lost (on the jewelry deal) because I respected my father." -Talmud, Avodah Zarah 24a
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