A Vezir had just received his appointment; those who had supported him came to compliment him on his promotion to a post of honor.
He was so inflated by the homage he received, that he came at last to pass by his former friends without noticing them.
“Who are you?” he asked one of them.
“My God,” exclaimed the other, who was a wit: “I feel sorry for you indeed, for your Excellency, like most of those who have reached an eminent position, has suddenly lost sight, hearing, and memory, so that you no longer know your former friends.”
It generally happens that those who attain to high station feel contempt for their friends.
The Ass and the Frogs
An Ass was walking along loaded with wood; as he journeyed he fell into a pond, and lamented because he could not get out.
The Frogs, dwellers in the pond, heard his cries and came up to him.
“Pray tell us,” they said to him, “how is it that you, who have been but a moment in this pond, cry out so vehemently. What would you do, if like us, you had been here for an infinite time?”
Such were the sarcastic consolations they addressed to him.