The poem was translated into French by Benedict Johnson (in 1982) and into English by Heston and Nasir (in 1988).
The story is transmitted by qissa-khwans, a term usually translated as "storytellers" who "say" or "sing" (Wayel) the verses.
Joshi's account of the origin of the material is that he found a manuscript containing the story written in Persian at a local fair wrapped around some medicine.
[5] The story has supernatural elements, such as five holy men (pirs) who give the heroine the ability to travel large distance in thirty steps, jinns who bring a woman and a bed to a mosque at night for the pleasure of a yogi.
[4] The tale was adapted into a 1970 Pashto film, Yousuf Khan Sher Bano, produced by Nazir Hussain and directed by Aziz Tabassum.