Perî are supernatural figures in Kurdish storytelling. Their role in versions of Memê Alan gives a concrete example of how fairies can shape a story, while their names and forms vary between performers and regions.

Kalighat painting of a crowned female peri in red and yellow drapery with two large green feathered wings
A peri in a Kalighat painting from nineteenth-century Calcutta, dated 1875 in the Bodleian record. MS. Ind. Inst. Misc. 21, folio 22. This illustrates the figure’s wider artistic circulation. Bodleian Libraries, Oxford · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons.

A word with more than one historical meaning

The American Heritage Dictionary traces Persian parī through Middle Persian parīg to Avestan pairikā, a term for a harmful female supernatural being or sorceress. Its modern definition emphasizes the beautiful fairy of Persian mythology. [1] This linguistic history provides background for a figure known across several storytelling traditions. It does not supply a fixed description for every Kurdish tale. To understand perî in Kurdish narrative, the recorded stories and their particular versions are more informative than a single list of supposedly universal traits.

The fairies who bring Mem and Zîn together

Philip Kreyenbroek’s account of Memê Alan describes fairies discovering two exceptionally beautiful young people who live far apart. They magically bring the sleeping Zîn to Mem’s room. On waking, the pair talk and exchange rings before sleeping again; Zîn is returned home. The rings later show that their meeting was real, and Mem sets out to find her. [2] Here the fairies initiate the romance by bridging distance and creating an encounter. Their narrative role is specific: they connect the protagonists and set their journey in motion.

Different singers, different supernatural helpers

Barbara Sträuli’s comparison of regional versions finds peris able to turn into doves in southwestern tellings, while speaking doves take their place in Serhad and Armenian variants and jinn in Tur Abdin. Her table compares five southwestern versions, recorded in Kilis in 1903, Urfa in 1906 and the edition associated with Misho Bekebur in 1942. The fairies’ names differ. Misho’s version uses Heyvbano, Tavbano and Stêrbano, associated with moon, sunlight and star. Other singers use different combinations. Sträuli interprets the variation as evidence of recreation in performance. [3] These examples show why a distinction between fairies, birds and jinn cannot simply be imposed as an identical rule on every telling of the story.

A winged peri in art

The illustration above comes from a nineteenth-century Kalighat painting in the Bodleian Libraries’ collection. Its record identifies the figure as a peri of Persian tradition and places the artwork in Calcutta. The image presents a crowned figure with large green wings. [4] It documents one artistic representation within the figure’s wider circulation. The Kurdish narrative examples concern actions, names and changes of form; the painting supplies a different kind of evidence. Keeping its date and place visible helps distinguish a particular image from the many possible ways a storyteller might describe a perî.

Sources and further reading

  1. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fifth edition, “peri”: definition and etymology through Persian, Middle Persian and Avestan.
  2. Philip G. Kreyenbroek, “Mem-ê Alan,” Encyclopaedia Iranica: the fairies’ intervention, the lovers’ exchanged rings and the beginning of Mem’s journey.
  3. Barbara Sträuli, “The regional epic tradition,” in Oskar Mann, Our Steppe is Vast…, Harrassowitz, 2021, pp. 41–43 and table 1: regional variants and fairy names; published chapter text.
  4. Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, digitized Kalighat painting, MS. Ind. Inst. Misc. 21, folio 22: curatorial description and image supplied through Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.