DON'T SELL CUCUMBERS TO THE CUCUMBER-SELLER

It was medium-sized, with a slight oblique curve, and a lot more watery than the gherkins being cultivated in Trans-Danubian Bulgaria (the very word "gherkin" is one of the few Proto-Bulgarian remnants found in modern Bulgarian). At that time Anatolia was of course a part of Byzantium which Bulgaria was constantly at war with. Some researchers surmise that many of these battles had been prompted by the Bulgarians' desire to obtain more and better cucumbers. Some radical scientists even refer to the so-called Cucumber Wars, where Bulgaria was defeated by Byzantium, Great Moravia and Croatia. Weary by incessant warfare and under constant pressure from his lords, Khan Boris resorted to a series of diplomatic initiatives that culminated in the adoption of Christianity in 864. Christianisation was followed by a popular revolt, which had been brewing for a long time but suddenly broke out when the serfs realised that the khan and the prince were the same person.

For a time, the Bulgarian population would have enough cucumbers. Growing and trading in cucumbers flourished. According to preserved documents, Simeon, Boris's third son who would become king in 893, used to cultivate cucumbers as a hobby. His first-born brother Vladimir Rasate's attempts to cultivate bigger cucumbers than his own continually vexed him. When Rasate tried to sell some of his cucumbers to him Simeon was infuriated. He complained to their father, who blinded his first-born son and threw him into a dungeon. Rasate was later strangled under Simeon's orders. The people surmised: "This is what happens when you try to sell cucumbers to the cucumber-seller."

Eleven centuries later the phrase "to sell cucumbers to the cucumber-seller", which is often used in the imperative – "don't sell cucumbers to the cucumber-seller", means something in-between "let sleeping dogs lie" and "it takes two to make a bargain".