There is still another tradition that traces the devil-worshippers to a different origin. I refer to the statement which Masehaf Reš makes regarding Mu‘awiya, Mohammed’s servant.[75] Mu‘awiya was asked by his master to shave his head. While performing the duty, he cut the prophet’s scalp, and began to lick the bleeding spot. When he was told that this act would result in his giving birth to a nation which would oppose the followers of his master, Mu‘awiya declared that he would not marry. He was afterwards, however, bitten by a serpent, and was told that he would die unless he married. He therefore consented to marry, but chose an old woman in order not to have children. But she miraculously became a young woman of twenty-five. And from her the God Yezid was born. The story, of course, is a myth, and it is of such a nature that no historic fact can be derived from it. It is further complicated by the fact that this Yezid is identified with Melek Ṭâ´ûs; and, in another myth, is represented in form as being half angel and half man and as remaining a bachelor long after the marriage of Adam. He was, however, finally possessed of a desire to marry, and, unable to marry a mortal’s daughter, being himself half angel, sought the assistance of Melek Ṭâ´ûs, who presented to him an ḥouri, and from this union there sprang a pious people, the Yezidis. But the devil-worshippers have still another story, which goes to show that Yezid bn Mu‘awiya is not their founder. This myth asserts that they are the progeny of Adam’s son who was married to Eve’s daughter; that the descendants continued worshipping God and Melek Ṭâ´ûs without bringing a foreign element into their religion; and that, at first, the sect did not bear the name Yezidis, which, in their own opinion, is a comparatively new appellative. As to how they came to be called by this new name, it is explained that when, in the course of time, some corruption entered the Yezidi religion, there arose a certain Calif by the name of Yezid who wrought miracles. Since then, his followers have been called Yezidis. This Yezid, it is said, is the son of Mu‘awiya bn Sufian, and his mother was of Christian origin. To accomplish his desire, bn Mu‘awiya went to Šeiḫ ‘Adi, who was a learned and devout but cunning person, and had instituted a religious innovation. Yezid, the tradition continues, learned ‘Adi’s religion and taught it to his followers; and, from that time on, the sect came to be called after him.[76] But while some, considering this legend as authoritative, venerate the man bearing the name, others deny all connection with him.[77]