The parī (peri) is a supernatural, often winged being that arose in Persian tales and spread across wider Asian folklore. In early Persian belief it was probably a class of evil spirits, later received more warmly, and through the Islamic period developed into complex beings. For all their beauty parīs are also feared: they are said to abduct people to their homeworld, Parīstan, or to punish those who transgress social norms.
The Islamic-era scholar Nasir Khusraw split the parī into a potential angel and a potential devil — becoming one or the other according to obedience or disobedience. A being in whom beauty and dread are one, its allegiance never finally settled, connects to our world, which keeps judgment sealed.