The Little Sugar Beet Vendor & Talkhun

Samad Behrangi was born in the Cherendab district of Tabriz in 1939, Azerbaijan province. He received his early education in
Tabriz and graduated from high school in 1957 and at the same year started teaching in village schools in the Azar Shahr district,
about 50 kilometers southwest of Tabriz, which he continued for eleven years.
He was fascinated with Azeri folk tales and his first book, published in 1965, was a collection of several such stories that he had
translated into Persian. That work brought him to the attention of literary circles in Tehran. The subsequent publication of an essay
on educational problems, several original children's stories dealing realistically with social issues, and a second volume of Azeri
folktales established his reputation as a rising star among a new generation of writers.
Behrangi was only twenty-nine when drowned in a swimming accident in Aras River in September 1968. It is commonly believed
that SAVAK, Shah’s security service, was behind this accident. At the time, his most famous children's stories, including "Ma’hi-e
Sia’he Kochoulou" (The Little Black Fish), his most famous work, were at the press; they were published posthumously. Later in
1969, "24 Sa'at Dar Khab Va Bidary" (24 Restless Hours) and "Yek Hulou, Hezar Hulou" (One Peach, A Thousand Peaches),
two of his other works were published.
Behrangi was a critique of both contents and methodology of the state-sponsored textbooks and curriculum. He believed the entire
educational system is outdated and alien to the Iranian children and in particular the rural children.
During the 1970s, Behrangi became a hero and martyr figure for anti-Pahlavi groups, and during the 1979 Revolution he received
considerable attention. A dedicated and indefatigable advocate of radical reforms, Behrangi is said to have been a model
teacher. His anti patriarchal and anticlerical encouragement of the youth of Azerbaijan to educate themselves into equality with
Persian-speaking Iranians, his passionate criticism of the wholesale adoption of American educational ideas and values, and his
courageous willingness to confront the governmental power structure through his writing and teaching guarantee Behrangi a
place in Iranian intellectual and social history.
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