This tale was taken in full from the book A Group Of Eastern Romances And Stories From The Persian, Tamil, And Urdu (1889, p. 279-281) by William Alexander Clouston, a Scottish folklorist. This story features in a larger tale called "Gul-i Bakáwalí" (The Rose/Romance of Bakáwalí). Clouston shares on his sources for this longer romance:

"The Rose of Bakáwalí was originally written, in the Persian language, by Shaykh Izzat Ullah, of Bengal, in the year of the Hijra 1124, or a.d. 1712."

For his book Clouston made use of an abridged French translation by M. Garcin de Tassy and a full English translation by Thomas Philip Manuel. He suspects that, although from a Persian source, the story is actually of Hindu origin, as the storylines contained in the tale are common to folktales across India but contains some themes which are out of place in Muslim tradition.

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In ancient times there lived a king, who had a hundred beautiful girls in his harem yet had no issue by any one of them. At length one of them gave birth to a daughter, and afterwards she bore three other children, but every time a female. When she was pregnant for the fourth time the king swore that if a daughter was born again he would have both the child and the mother destroyed. It happened that a daughter was again born; but lovely and fairylike was the infant. The mother, anxious to preserve the life of her darling, gave out that it was a son, and prevailed upon the astrologers to counsel the king not to see the child's face for ten years, for should he do so harm would come to him, and the father agreed to do as they desired.

When the girl grew up in years and understanding, and the prescribed period was near expiring, the mother explained matters to her, and requested her to assume the garb of a young man and thus appear before the king, so that in this way both their lives might be preserved. The daughter followed her mother's instructions, and in due course she was betrothed to the daughter of another monarch. When the wedding-day approached, the king caused her to be clothed in rich garments, and, placing her in a golden litter, despatched her to the country of the bride. The girl sometimes wept and sometimes laughed at the situation in which she was placed.

At last when she reached a dense forest, where she had occasion to stay for the night, she could bear her shame no longer, and finding life nothing less than a burden, she left her litter secretly and wandered far into the wood, trusting that some beast of prey would destroy her.

After roaming about for some time, she found herself under the branches of a tall, umbrageous tree, in which dwelt a Dív, who immediately fell in love with her beauty. In the shape of a young man he appeared to her, and inquired the cause of her distress.

The girl told her story frankly, upon which the heart of the Dív melted, and he offered to change her into a man and himself into a woman for a short time.

She consented to this, and the transformation took place at once, after which she took her leave, with a light and happy heart, and rejoined her attendants unperceived by any of them.

In a few days more they reached the country of the bride. The marriage was consummated and the old king returned to his own country. The prince who was originally a princess remained with his spouse until a child was born to him, and then he set out on a visit to his father.

In passing through the forest he sought out the tree and found the Dív sitting there in the form of a woman. "O Dív," cried the prince, "through thy favour I have obtained the wish of my heart. Take back your virility and restore my womanhood to me.''

But this the Dív could not do, as in the form of a woman he had fallen in love with another Dív and expected soon to become a mother. "Therefore," added the Dív, "do thou retain thy manhood: I am content to remain a woman.