Long ago, there lived a king who was rich and powerful. That is why the kings of other countries sent him gifts. One day, a man came from a distant kingdom. He was a magician. He brought the king an iron horse. The horse had wings, and when you pulled on them, you could fly up to the clouds. The king was delighted with the precious gift. He had a pavilion built and put the horse inside so that everyone could admire it.
The king had a son who was as beautiful as the moon. How he would have loved to fly up to the clouds on the magical horse! One night, he sneaked out of his chamber, sat on the horse and pulled on its wings. The horse rose into the air and flew through the night with the prince.
He flew for a long time until he saw a palace below him. There was still light in one of the rooms. He steered the magic horse into the palace garden and entered the room of a princess who was as beautiful as the evening star. She was startled when she saw the stranger. "Don't be afraid. I came to you on a magical horse", he said.
This made the princess curious. They talked all night long and did not want to part. When the sun rose, the prince asked: "Come with me to my country and be my queen".
Together they mounted the magic horse. The prince pulled on the wings and they flew across the sky to his kingdom. In the garden in front of the palace, he stopped the horse and said to the princess, ‘Wait here. I want to tell my father about my flight and bring him to you.’
But the princess came from the same country as the wizard. He knew immediately that the prince had taken her away. He found the magical horse and flew away with the princess.
When the prince returned to the garden with his father, the horse and the princess had disappeared. "It must have been the wizard", said the king. The prince wept with longing for the princess. Then he rode out into the world to search for her.
Finally, he arrived in her kingdom. There, her father wanted to marry her off to another king. But the princess pretended to be seriously ill, and no one could help her. The prince sneaked into the palace garden. At night, he knocked on the princess's window. How happy she was when she saw him!
"Let's flee!" he said. They mounted the magic horse and flew home together.
A grand wedding was celebrated there. The prince and princess had many children, and when the old king died, they ascended the throne. But they hid the magic horse so well that no one has ever found it again.

Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: R. Basset, Nouveaux contes berbères, Paris 1897 , Übersetzung L. Jaenike