The man (AKA stranger in other translations) is the unnamed male protagonist of the 1854 German short poem and song Im schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon (In the Black Whale of Askalon) by Josef Viktor von Scheffel. He lives in the ancient city Ascalon where he spends his days drinking alcohol in a pub called Black Whale, disregarding the owner's warnings of not to drink too much or he cannot afford it. When he gets the bill, he admits his money is in the another city Nineveh, then he gets kicked out of the place.
Background[]
The man was created by Josef Viktor von Scheffel as a criticism of bacchanalian student life, a type of festival privately funded in Rome.