Lyrics - Transliteration
(Traditional Iranian chant – Persian/Farsi)
Atal matal tootoolé
Gāve hasan chejooré?
Na sheer dāré, na pestoon
Gaveshõ bordan hendestoon
Yek zané kordee bestoon
Esmeshō bezār amghezi
Doré kolāsh ghermezi
hacheen ō vācheen
Yek, pā, tō, var, cheen!
English Translation
(rhyming words with no meaning)
How is Hasan’s cow?
It has neither milk nor udders,
They took his cow to India
Find a Kurdish wife
Name her Amghezi
Around her hat is red
(rhyming words with no meaning)
Take one foot away!
(source)
Persian / Farsi– اتل متل
اَتَل مَتَل توتولِه
گاوِ حَسَن چِه جوره؟
نَه شیر دارِه نَه پِستون
گاوِشو بُردن هِندسِتون
یِک زَنِ کُردی بِستون
اِسمِشو بِذار عَم قِزی
دورِ کُلاش قِرمِزی
هاچین و واچین
یِه، پا، تو، وَر، چین
Game
Formation: Students sit in a circle either with knees together and feet together (source: Wee Sing Around the World, Pamela Conn Beall and Susan Hagen Nipp, Price Stern Sloan, 1994) or legs stretched out (source).
As the chant is spoken, a leader touches each person’s knee around the circle. At the end of the chant, whatever knee is being touched is pulled back. The chant continues to repeat until one person in the circle has one knee left. That person becomes the new leader.
See also
- Country: Iran
- Activities: circle games
- Type: chant
- Source
YouTube
- PDF of chant + Lesson ideas
1 thought on “Atal matal”
Love this chant I have many Afghani immigrants and refugee students at my school. Just so you know, most of my kiddos prefer to call the language Farsi.