Nokhodi (Little Chickpea): a Persian folk tale retold in English
Nokhodi (نخودی), "Little Chickpea", is a Persian folk tale about a lonely old woman whose chickpea jumps out of the pot and becomes a tiny girl. She is so small and so clever that she saves the village children from a giant (a div) by sending him to fetch water in a sieve. Azizan has a gentle Persian version for ages 2–4 that a parent or grandparent can record on video, page by page.
Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.
The story in short (Azizan's version)
A kind woman who has no children longs for one. She puts bread dough in the oven and a pot of chickpeas on the fire, and one chickpea jumps out of the pot and turns into a tiny girl.
The woman hugs her, makes her a pretty dress, braids her hair and names her Nokhodi, because she is only as tall as a chickpea.
The village children go to the fields to collect wheat, and Nokhodi runs after them. They sing and play until the sun goes down.
On the way home a huge green div appears and the children cling together in fear.
Little Nokhodi puts her hands on her hips and sings: "I'm Nokhodi, little chickpea, I'm not scared of a big div, not at all!"
The div tries to catch her but she is too small. She says the children are thirsty and sends him to fetch water from Crystal Mountain in a sieve. The water runs out through the holes again and again.
While the div is busy till morning, the children tiptoe home. The mothers hug Nokhodi, and she falls asleep that night beside the warm oven.
How this differs from other versions
In some older versions Nokhodi is carried off or trapped in a longer adventure. Azizan's retelling keeps the cleverness and the chorus and leaves the frightening parts out.
The song and the tasks differ from teller to teller, as is normal for folk tales.
Why it works for young children
The tiniest hero wins: small children know what it is to be the smallest in the room.
A chorus to chant: the song repeats three times, so a child can sing it with the grandparent.
A funny task: fetching water in a sieve is a puzzle toddlers enjoy solving.
Reading it aloud
Whisper the narration and sing Nokhodi's chorus the same way each time. Hold up your thumb and finger to show how small she is. A grandparent recording the chorus on video gives the child a song they can ask for again and again.