A Poor Boatman and a Scholar

There was a poor boatman in a village. He was illiterate. He used to row boat from morning till evening only to make his both ends meet. A scholar got into He his boat one day. The scholar said to the boatman, "Did you read history?"  The boatman said, "No". The scholar told him that without any knowledge of history one-fourth of his life was spoilt. He looked at the beautiful scenery and asked the boatman again whether he had read geography. As usual, the reply was, “No”. This time the scholar said that one half of the boatman's life was spoilt. Then they were silent for some time. It was afternoon. The scholar broke the silence and said to the boatman, “Do you know anything about science?" "No, nothing do I know of science" was the answer of the boatman. The scholar told him that his life was of no use. 'Three-fourths of his life were spoilt. This time the boatman remained silent. All on a sudden, the sky became overcast with dark clouds. The   'Nor ‘wester' [কাল বৈশাখী] began to blow. The scholar was very much frightened. Eventually, the 'Nor ‘wester' became violent [হিংসাত্মক]. The boatman said to him. "Sir, “Do you know how to swim?" The scholar replied in the negative in a pitiful voice. The boatman said, “The boat is going to sink. Now I see, the whole of our life is spoilt. Your bookish knowledge is of no use at this moment".