Over 4,000 pages in its written form, the tale of Seif Ibn Zi Yazan describes a tense relationship between the Semites of Yemen and the Hamites of Abyssinia. Seif Ibn Zi Yazan, a Yemeni king, was predestined to greatness. Even before he was born, soothsayers were chanting his life in verse attributed to none other than Noah, the biblical figure himself. The verse goes thus:

King of all earth

Scion of the tribes of Tubba’ and Hamir

Guided by Noah, he makes the blacks

Serve the sons of Sam

He smites the enemies

And frees nations from the darkness of idolatry

(Vol. 1, P.15)

Qamaria, the mother of Seif, was a slave owned by the Abyssinian king Seif Arad. The latter offers her as a gift to the Yemeni king, Zi Yazan.

After her husband’s death, Qamaria becomes a queen. Fearful that her son may edge her out of power, she abandons Seif in the wilderness, leaving him to perish. A gazelle (who is in fact a genie queen) nurses him along with her own daughter, Aqisa. Consequently, Seif and Aqisa become siblings in common law (in Arabian tradition, if two infants are nursed by the same mother they are considered siblings).

The young Seif spends three years (his first period of estrangement) with his adopted genie family and thus earns the title: Beast of Wilderness.

When Seif grows up, he embarks on extensive travels that take him to the ends of the earth and beyond, to the seven haunted worlds. He becomes acquainted with genies and humans, with colourful and strong-headed characters, such as Sakrdowen, minister of the king Seif Arad, and the king Afrah. The latter at one point asks Seif to bring him the Book of the Nile as a condition for marrying his his beautiful daughter Shama.

Aqisa, who as an infant had nursed with Seif, keeps helping him in his exploits. She has magic powers and makes her (common law) brother gifts of unbelievable potency, such as the magic hat, the magic ring, and the magic plate. She helps him get rid of all his enemies, including Qamaria and Seif Arad.

The epic has the same feel as the Arabian Nights, as the researcher Nabila Ibrahim once pointed out.

Behind the simple rivalry between Seif and Seif Arad, there is a hint at actual history. The story describes the fear Egyptians feel of their southern neighbours, their worry that the upstream nations may divert the Nile, and thus turn their country dry.

Seif Arad, the king of Abyssinia, is depicted as a fanatical Christian bent on destroying his northern neighbours. Seif Arad is, remarkably, a real historical figure, an Abyssinian king who lived in the fourteenth century (1344-1373).

To repel his designs, the epic uses Seif Ibn Zi Yazan, a pre-Islamic hero, and endows him with magical prowess. The task assigned to Seif must have been deemed too great for the contemporary leaders, most of whom were from Turkish stock. The saviour chosen by the writers of the epic was not only Muslim, but of pure Arab descent.