The story begins during a grand festival in the Persian kingdom, when three learned men arrive at court to present extraordinary gifts to the king. The first offers a golden bird that can mark the passing of hours, and the second unveils a magical mirror capable of revealing events in distant lands. The third gift is the most astonishing of all: a horse carved from glossy black ebony, richly inlaid with precious gems, presented by an Indian sorcerer. He boldly claims that this horse does not run upon the earth but can carry its rider through the skies to any place in the world in a single instant.
Curious and fearless, Prince Kamal al Akmar insists on testing the horse himself. Following the sorcerer’s instructions, he mounts the horse and turns a hidden peg near its neck. At once, the horse leaps into the air and soars above the palace, leaving the king and the court in shock. Only then does it become clear that the sorcerer has failed to explain how to land. Alone in the sky, the prince relies on his intelligence rather than panic. By carefully examining the horse, he discovers a second small peg behind its ear. When he turns it, the horse slowly descends and lands safely on a magnificent rooftop in the kingdom of Sana’a in Yemen.
There, the prince encounters the princess of Sana’a, and their meeting quickly turns into love. To prove his power and devotion, Kamal carries her upon the enchanted horse back to Persia. Yet their happiness is short lived. Furious that his son was placed in mortal danger, the Persian king orders the sorcerer imprisoned. Amid the chaos, the sorcerer escapes. Using deceit, he lures the princess onto the magical horse and abducts her, fleeing across the skies to the kingdom of Greece.
In Greece, the sorcerer is captured, but the princess is forced into a royal marriage against her will. To delay her fate, she pretends to be mad, screaming and destroying objects so that the wedding cannot proceed. Meanwhile, Prince Kamal searches tirelessly across many lands until he reaches Greece. Disguised as a famous physician from the East, he claims he can cure the princess. When brought before her, he secretly signals his identity, then tells the Greek king that her illness comes from lingering energies left by the wooden horse. He insists that both the princess and the horse must be taken to the public square for a purification ritual.
As incense fills the air and the crowd watches in fascination, Kamal and the princess leap onto the ebony horse together. With a swift turn of the familiar peg, the horse rises into the sky, escaping before anyone can react. They return safely to Persia, where their wedding is celebrated with great joy, and the magical horse is preserved in the royal palace as a symbol of wisdom and ingenuity.
At its heart, the story celebrates intelligence over brute force, showing how careful observation allows Kamal to master a powerful invention and outwit his enemies. The flying horse itself represents the creative imagination of early storytellers, reflecting a timeless human desire to conquer distance and reach the skies through visionary technology.