Linguist Jan Knappert published a very similar tale with the title The Giant Horse, wherein the protagonist is also named Kibaraka.
Author Alice Werner provided a summary of the story, which she considered to be "a composite tale", and some of its parts diffused along with Arab influence.
The vizier's son is found by a zimwi, who welcomes the boy into his lair and instructs him not to open a certain door, and goes to invite his friends for a cannibal feast.
The horse swallows the animals to take along with him, and escapes with the boy in a "Magic Flight" sequence: the seven bottles are thrown behind them to create obstacles to their pursuers (thorns, rock, swords, water, fire, sea).
He goes to a nearby city just in time to take part in a suitor selection test: the local sultan's seven daughters are to throw limes to their husbands of choice, the elder six cast theirs to noble men and the seventh to Kibaraka.
His curiosity is piqued, and he goes down to the castle cellar to see what is hiding down there: a giant horse, which talks to Kibaraka and says they can still escape if the youth feeds it.
Finally, the youth releases the sea bottle, which creates a vast ocean between Kibaraka and the horse and the last spirit, which cannot cross the body of water.
Some time later, in a nearby kingdom, the sultan arranges for his seven daughters' marriage: by throwing lemons to their suitors of choice, they are to make their selection of husbands.
Despite his brothers-in-law mocking the union and her sister pitying her, the princess discovers Kibaraka's house is actually furnished with cattle and servants (people who he and the Giant Horse rescued from the spirit).
War continues for a while longer, and Kibaraka rides a lion on the second day, still wielding the sword and dagger, which vanquish the enemies.
The six sons-in-law brag to the king they were the ones who defeated the enemy army, but a servant reveals to the sultan that a mysterious knight was the one responsible.
The type may also open with the prince for some reason being the servant of an evil being, where he gains the same gifts, and the tale proceeds as in this variant.
According to Toelken, this Subtype 2 is "the oldest", being found "in Southern Siberia, Iran, the Arabian countries, Mediterranean, Hungary and Poland".
[15] According to Stith Thompson, tale type ATU 314 contains the motif of the "Obstacle Flight" (a form of the "Magic Flight"): the hero escapes from an antagonist (e.g., an ogre), and throws behind him objects to deter his pursuers, each object transforming into a magical obstacle to hinder the pursuit, like a fire or a lake.
[22] A motif that appears in tale type 314 is the hero having to find a cure for the ailing king, often the milk of a certain animal (e.g., a lioness).
According to scholar Erika Taube [de], this motif occurs in tales from North Africa to East Asia, even among Persian- and Arabic-speaking peoples.
[23] Similarly, Hasan M. El-Shamy noted that the quest for the king's remedy appears as a subsidiary event "in the Arab-Berber culture area".
The horse tells him to make preparations: take a saddle, the sword and seven bottles from a chest, and release the lion and the leopard.
The horse tells its rider to throw behind them one of the bottles to create obstacles: two forests of thorns, a mudslide, a mountain of stones, a wall of fire, and lastly a large sea-wave.
As a mark of honour, the king ties his own turban on the stranger, when he excuses himself and returns to his lowly beggar appearance.
Both ride to the tree and each pluck a fruit, but Ali fetches one that holds the Jin of Jehan inside, who abducts people yearly.
Ali then opens the remaining doors: he finds seven maidens reading the Koran (who are to be the Jin's victims), another full of horse's fodder, another with magic swords, the second-to-last holding seven magical bottles ("the first was full of sun, the second of rain, the third of needles, the fourth of hail, the fifth of thorns, the sixth of mud, and the seventh of sea"), and the last hiding the horse's jewelled saddle.
The sultan agrees, the demon later returns with a medicine to be given to the queen, who gives birth to three children in separate pregnancies.
While they are at a distance, the demons' companions come to feast on their supposed victim, and eat the contents of the cauldron, waiting for their compatriot to appear.
[32][33][34] The tale was provided to Steere by an informant named Hamisi wa Kayi, or Khamis bin Abubekr.
A magician named Mchaa′wee appears and asks to take one of the sultan's sons as a companion, and chooses the youngest, called Keejaa′naa.
The next time, the boy opens the remaining doors: he sees piles of animal bones in the first room and humans skulls in the sixth chamber, and finds a horse named Faaraa'see in the seventh one.
As the horse predicted, the magician returns and is preparing the cooking pot, and lies to Keejaa'naa they will play a swing game.
The local residents marvel at Keejaanaa's house, and their sultan pays him a visit ton inquire about the stranger.