Peri 665610 218180508 2008-06-09T14:39:38Z 70.17.114.79 {{otheruses}} In [[Persian mythology|Persian]], '''peris''' (in [[Persian language|Persian]] پری ''Pari'') are descended from [[fallen angel]]s who have been denied [[paradise]] until they have done [[penance]]. In earlier sources they are described as agents of evil; later, they are benevolent. They are exquisite, winged, [[fairy]]-like creature ranking between angels and evil spirits. They sometimes visit the realm of mortals. Peris were the target of a lower level of evil beings called [[Div (Persian mythology)|div]]s, who persecuted them by locking them in iron cages. This persecution was brought about by, as the divs perceived it, the peris' lack of sufficient self-esteem to join the rebellion against good. Pari is a common Persian name for women. Also, a common Turkish name for women is Perihan, meaning queen of the fairies or Peri, meaning fairy. In [[Thomas Moore]]'s ''Paradise and the Peri'' in [[Lalla-Rookh]], a Peri gains entrance to heaven after three attempts at giving an [[angel]] the gift most dear to God. The first attempt is "The last libation Liberty draws/From the heart that bleeds and breaks in her cause," to wit, a drop of [[blood]] from a young soldier killed for an attempt on the life of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]]. Next is a "Precious sigh/of pure, self-sacrificing love": a sigh stolen from the dying lips of a maiden who died with her lover of [[Bubonic plague|plague]] in the [[Ruwenzori]] rather than surviving in exile from the disease and the lover. The third gift, the one that gets the Peri into heaven, is a "Tear that, warm and meek/Dew'd that repentant sinner's cheek": the tear of an evil old man who repented upon seeing a child praying in the ruins of the [[Sun worship|Temple of the Sun]] at Balbec, [[Syria]]. Moore's tale was set to music, in an abridged [[German language|German]] translation, by [[Robert Schumann]] and published as that composer's Op. 50. In Indian Mythology Pari (परी) is the equivalent of a [[fairy]]. == See also == * [[Fairy]] * [[Paristan]] * ''[[Iolanthe]]'' or ''The Peer and the Peri'' [[Category:Fairies]] [[Category:Persian mythology]] [[Category:Persian legendary creatures]] [[de:Peri]] [[fa:پری]] [[fr:Pari (mythologie)]] [[ru:Пери]] [[uk:Пері]] [[ur:پری]] {{Template:Fairies}}