But few people know where the famous saying came from.
And it is directly connected with the Ryazan Trinity Monastery.
One day, according to tradition, the abbot of the monastery sent monks to collect mushrooms in a nearby oak forest. The year turned out to be fruitful, and soon the monks collected several carts of selected mushrooms.
On the way home, the monks met a young girl and offered her a ride to the city. To avoid various misconceptions, the monks covered the woman with mushrooms, and covered her with burlap on top.
At the gates of the monastery, the carts stopped. Either in jest, or seriously, but the monks decided to take the woman to the men's monastery. The gatekeeper opened the gate, and the wagon train drove into the courtyard.
But then, as if sensing something amiss, a blind abbot came out to them and asked:
- What are you carrying today, my children?
- Mushrooms, mushrooms, Father.
- Mushrooms are a good thing! Well, let's see what kind of fungi they picked up.
Lifting the burlap on one of the carts, the abbot saw someone's eyes through the mushroom pile. Quickly realizing what was going on here, he said with mock surprise: "Yeah, it turns out we have mushrooms with eyes in Ryazan."
Then he raked the space around the frightened girl's face, took a handful of mushrooms, sniffed, tasted them on his teeth and added with a sly grin, looking at her: "They eat them, and they look."
Probably, from that curious case, the saying about Ryazan "mushrooms with eyes" went for a walk in Russia.
