مسلمة بن عبد الملك
The tale begins with the story of the rivalry of the two tribes during the early Umayyad period, when the Sulaym held command over both. It continues with the assumption of command by the Kilab and the participation of the Kilabite al-Sahsah in the campaigns of the Umayyad prince Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik against the Eastern Romans, including the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, his adventures in the desert and his death. Al-Sahsah's two sons, Zalim and Mazlum, then quarrel over their father's inheritance. Mazlum's daughter, Fatima, the eponymous heroine of the epic, is abducted by the Banu Tayy, among whom she becomes a fierce warrior and is named "al-Dalhama". This is possibly the feminine form of the name "Dalham" ("wolf"), but is more usually interpreted as a corruption of the honorific "Dhat al-Himma", "woman of noble purpose", which also appears in the tale along with other variants, the most common of which is "Delhemma".