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| via spongobongo.com |
One morn a Peri at the gate
Of Eden stood disconsolate
-Thomas Moore
One of my characters has always reminded me of a fairy, so I decided to dig around for details of the eastern equivalent, the Persian Peri.
Beautiful winged Peri are descended from fallen angels. They repented and, in search of redemption, they often frequent the human world to help people. The evil Daeva persecute them for not having enough courage to rebel against good.
Probably the most famous western tale about Peri is Thomas Moore's Paradise and the Peri , which is part of his adaptation of the oriental romance of Lalla Rookh.
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| via pirages.com more images in the related article below |
Engaged to the young king of Bactria, Lalla Rookh goes forth to meet him, but falls in love with Feramorz, a poet from her entourage. The bulk of the work consists of four interpolated tales sung by the poet: The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan (loosely based upon the story of Al-Muqanna), Paradise and the Peri, The Fire-Worshippers, and The Light of the Harem. When Lalla Rookh enters the palace of her bridegroom she swoons away, but revives at the sound of a familiar voice. She awakes with rapture to find that the poet she loves is none other than the prince to whom she is engaged.
Sort of a reverse Scheherazade thing going on here, I guess. Anyhoo, thank goodness it's public domain because it's out of print and originals like the one above cost thousands of dollars! I'll let you know what I come up with...
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It's so interesting to hear the links between Eastern and Western myths!
ReplyDeleteYou know, evil Daeva has piqued my interest!! I love that she is rebelling against good!! Now that's a character I'd love to sink my teeth into - metaphorically speaking of course!! Thank you!!!! What an inspired post! Take care
ReplyDeletex
How have I not heard of this?
ReplyDeleteWell I have not heard of this either but let me get this straight... your book has Zorro and fairies? I bow to your imagination :)
ReplyDeleteJules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
I love happy endings!
ReplyDeleteI also love the illustrations and how beautiful the book is. Wow.
Yay for peris! I don't even remember now when or how it started but my hero's been calling the heroine 'peri' for quite some time :-)
ReplyDeleteLove happy endings and the illustrations look great.
ReplyDeleteI'm also married to a Turk for 25 years now.
I also am a follower love your Blog.
Sounds wonderful! You have a lot going on in your blog. Lovely being here. Thanks for the follow. I'm following you too. So many interesting bits of info on your blog!
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