The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft: The Complete A-Z for the Entire Magical World - Judika Illes 2005

Peri
Fairies

Peri are Iranian fairies, tiny, sweet, gossamer beings nourished solely by the aromas of fragrant flowers and trees. Iran is the home of dualism; the philosophy permeates their fairy tales, too. Malicious spirits called deevs (possibly the root origin of “devil”) constantly attempt to capture peris by hanging iron cage-traps from treetops. Peris who accidentally fly in are trapped. Their sister spirits, however, sustain these trapped peris by feeding them perfume, which in turn repulses the deevs so that they are unable to complete their nefarious plans.