The Scholar and the Boatman- Story

The Scholar and the Boatman

One day a scholar was going to a distant place. On his way, there was a river. He got into a boat to cross the river. As the weather was favorable, the river was calm and the scholar was enjoying the journey.
At that time, the scholar intended to gossip with the boatman. “Do you know how the universe was created?” asked the scholar. As the boatman was illiterate, knowing this answer by him is out of the question. Reasonably, he replied, “No”.
The scholar got surprised and said, “Without the knowledge of astronomy half of your life is spoilt.” The boatman felt sad at this. He again asked the boatman, “Do you know about the history of human civilization?” Same was the reply of the boatman. This time the scholar warned him that without this knowledge half of his life is spoilt. The boatman kept silent.
After a while, the scholar again asked, “ Do you know how the high tide and low tide occur?” The reply of the boatman was as usual in the negative. This time the scholar told him that his life was useless; three-fourths of his life was spoilt.
All on a sudden, the sky got covered with dark cloud. A terrible storm was about to arise. The scholar became very much frightened. Now the boatman uttered a timely question to the scholar,” Do you know how to swim, sir?” In a helpless mood, the scholar replied in the negative. The boatman said, “I see, now, whole of your life is spoilt. The boat is going to sink in no time.” The scholar had no answer. He was looking pale in fear of death.