A parī or peri is a supernatural entity originating from Persian tales and distributed into wider Asian folklore.

In the Islamic period, the parī already developed into morally complex beings with a generally positive connotation of immense beauty,[2][3] and late in the tenth century, were integrated into the Arab houri-tale tradition.

[14] As early as the tenth century, parī feature as a template for the exquisite beauty of "the beloved" in Persianate folklore and poetry, echoing an identification with the Arabic Houri.

[16][17][18] At the start of Ferdowsi's epic poem Shahnameh, "The Book of Kings", the divinity Sorush appears in the form of a parī to warn Keyumars (the mythological first man and shah of the world) and his son Siamak of the threats posed by the destructive Ahriman.

Parīs also form part of the mythological army that Keyumars eventually draws up to defeat Ahriman and his demonic son.

The tale is a combination of originally two separate stories; the parī features in the latter, when Prince Ahmad meets the beautiful princess Pari Banu.

[20] From India,[21] across Northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran to Central Asia, and Turkey,[22] local traditions variously acknowledge the existence of a supernatural creature called parī.

[27] According to Turkologist Ignác Kúnos, the parī in Turkish tales fly through the air with cloud-like garments of a green colour, but also in the shape of doves.

Like vestals, Kúnos wrote, the parī belong to the spiritual realm until love sprouts in their hearts, and they must join with their mortal lovers, being abandoned by their sisters to their own devices.

[33] Parī were the target of a lower level of evil Dīvs (دیو), who persecuted them by locking them in iron cages.

[35] Abu Ali Bal'ami's interpretation of the Qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ, the History of the Prophets and Kings, God creates parī at some point after the vicious dīvs.

[38] Isma'ilite scholar Nasir Khusraw (1004 – between 1072–1088) elaborates on the concept of parī in his explanation of angels, jinn, and devils.

[39] Arthur de Gobineau tells in his travel report about his 'three years in Asia' a story involving Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and parī.

Robert Schumann set Moore's tale to music as an oratorio, Paradise and the Peri, using an abridged German translation.