Note 56 — Chapter V · THE TEMPLE OF THE DEVIL (SHEIKH ADI)
Reading edition
In this legend we meet with the only official explanation to account for Melek Taüs being represented as a peacock. When the Marys came to the empty tomb and found no body within it, Melek Taüs (says the legend) appeared to them as a Dervish and related what he had done. To rebuke their doubts, he took a cock which had been killed, cooked, and dismembered, and restored it to life in their sight. He then vanished; first informing them that henceforth he would choose to be worshipped in the form of the most beautiful of birds. The representation of Deities under the form of birds was familiar to the ancient Babylonians.