The story of Yousaf Khan and Sherbano is set in Swabi, in the time of the Mughal King Akbar.
Yousaf Khan was a great hunter known in his village for his skill as much as for his handsomeness. He lived with his old mother and hardworking sister, Bulanda, who showered him with love and affection. His affection was centered on his two dogs, which were raised and trained in hunting by his late father. Now in his care, these dogs were reminiscent of his childhood and a precious relic of his father. They wore collars hung with silver bells that rung in high notes as they ran ahead of Yousaf Khan to the hunting grounds every morning. 
The hunting grounds were a wilderness filled with ravines and crevices near the hills by the settlement of villages. Yousaf Khan passed through another village to get to these grounds. In that village was a house that he passed every morning as he went, and every evening as he returned.
There lived a beautiful and fiercely intelligent girl called Sherbano. She was resting one morning when the approach of barking dogs and ringing bells shook her out of her sleep. Enraged at the noise, she got up and looked over the wall of her house to yell at whoever was passing by. The minute her eyes found the face of Yousaf Khan, her rage melted away and she stood there love-struck. He passed by without noticing her and went on towards the grounds. 
Sherbano thought of him all day. She had heard of Yousaf Khan, the hunter but had not known he would be so handsome. She stood at the door of her house waiting for him to return. A couple of hours later, Bulanda came following her brother’s path. The waiting Sherbano stopped her and introduced herself, and asked about her as well. Bulanda told her that she was Yousaf Khan’s sister, on her way to deliver lunch to her brother. Sherbano told her to tell her brother about her feelings for him and that she would be waiting for him by this door. Bulanda refused to say such a thing to her brother but after much convincing, Sherbano made her promise.
Bulanda met Yousaf at the hunting ground and while giving him the lunch, she told him of her encounter with Sherbano and how she had insisted that she pass on her message. Yousaf Khan was extremely angered by his sister’s audacity to pass on such an indecent message to him and harshly reprimanded her for indulging in gossip. Poor Bulanda cried as she went back home. Sherbano stopped her again in the way back to ask what Yousaf had said. Bulanda cried harder and refused to say anything. She ran back home.
Yousaf Khan had cousins on his father’s side, which had turned against him and his family after the death of his father. Despite the sour relations between them, his cousins asked Yousaf to take them hunting with him. Yousaf tried to make excuses and tried to avoid making a plan in every way but his cousins insisted and went with him the next day.
With a bad feeling Yousaf Khan led the way as his cousins followed. They spent an entire day in the grounds but caught nothing. Yousaf Khan could not concentrate and his cousins were unskilled at hunting and had difficulty in stealth and remaining quiet. At the end of the day, they spotted a ram and as his cousin was about to shoot it, Yousaf Khan warned him saying that, “its standing on the edge of the ravine, the shot will only make it fall backwards into the ravine, wait for it to move forward.” His cousin however, did not listen and shot at the ram. The bullet hit the ram but the impact made it fall into the ravine as Yousaf Khan had said. Now it was injured and out of their reach as well. His cousin came up with an idea. He said, “You’re the most agile amongst us. We’ll tie you to a rope and lower you into the ravine. You go in, slaughter the ram, tie it in the rope and we’ll pull it up. Then we’ll lower the rope again and you can tie yourself and we’ll lift you too.”
Having no other option, and overpowered by his cousins, Yousaf agreed. He tied the rope to himself and his cousins began to lower him into the ravine. About one third of the way, his cousin dropped him with the rope and fled.
Yousaf fell unconscious as he hit the ground and lay there. His dogs ran barking back to his house and alerted Yousaf’s mother with their incessant barking and unrest. She immediately understood that something must have happened to Yousaf because the dogs never came back without him. She dropped everything she was doing and ran towards him. Bulanda followed suit. Both women ran wailing through the village without their purdah. Sherbano saw them running down the road and faring the worst, ran after them. The woman reached the hills, called and searched for Yousaf everywhere but found nothing. Sherbano came upon the ravine and saw a wounded Yousaf lying at the bottom. She called out to him. Bulanda and her mother ran in her direction. Slowly, Yousaf Khan came to and saw them. He got up and threw the rope to them. They lowered the rope so he could tie it around himself with what little strength he had. The three women pulled him up out of the ravine. By this time, people from his village had followed them too and gathered around to watch. 
As Yousaf was dragged out of the ravine, Sherbano cradled his head as she cried and wiped his face with her scarf. She held on to him as he was carried back to him house. 
When they reached her house, she saw her father waiting for her at the door, his face dark with rage. Someone had told him that his daughter had been acting shamelessly in front of the entire village. He swore in front of the entire village that he would kill her if he had to for the sake of his honor. Yousaf Khan’s mother intervened and begged him to give her Sherbano as Yousaf Khan’s wife in order to save their honour and his daughter’s life. Sherbano was ecstatic. Her father agreed to the match and soon wedding preparations began in both houses.
Yousaf Khan, however, could not enjoy the festivities. His pride was hurt and he burned with the urge to avenge his cousins. He felt everyone’s eyes taunting him and he could not bear the shame he felt.
While the wedding festivities were in full swing, he announced that he will only marry after he had avenged his cousins for wronging him. He set off towards Delhi in search of a power that could help him in his quest.
On the outskirts of Delhi was a small settlement. He stopped there as the sun began to set. He had been travelling all day and asked them for refreshment and a place to stay. They settled him down amongst themselves, provided him with food and asked him for his story. He told them that he was from the other side of the Indus and was here in search of revenge against people who had wronged. They too shared with him their dilemma of the regular dacoits that attack their little village every couple of days. 
Just as they were settling in to sleep, the dacoits burst out of the nearby forest and attacked the settlement. Yousaf Khan grabbed his sword and went out to fight the dacoits. Being a skilled hunter, he used stealth his agility to fight the unskilled dacoits who only had their numbers to their advantage but otherwise had no skills when it came to fighting back. Careful and swift, Yousaf fought for a couple of hours until the dacoits realized that they could not fight back and retreated into the woods.
The villagers raised Yousaf Khan on their shoulders and chanted his name. He became the hero of the village overnight and the next day, they presented him to the king as a brave and skilled fighter who had saved their entire village. The king wished to see a demonstration of his skills. He called his best swordsmen to fight him and Yousaf Khan succeeded in each fight. He greatly impressed the king and at the end of the day, was invited to the banquet at the king’s house. The king presented him with jeweled necklaces and posts in his army. 
As the years passed, Yousaf Khan performed so well that he rose in the ranks until he became a general in the army and one of the king’s closest and most trusted men.
Meanwhile Sherbano waited for him back home. Every time her parents brought up the subject of marriage, she would throw a tantrum and retreat into herself. After five years had passed, her father cornered her one day and insisted on marrying Sherbano to Yousaf Khan’s cousin, who had now taken over Yousaf Khan’s house and were ruling over the village. Sherbano begged him to let her wait one more year and if Yousaf Khan did not return, she would marry anyone he chose without protest.
Yousaf Khan, being handsome and full of valor, was a favourite at the court. Constantly in the company of the king, he was closely observed by all, including the king. His lack of participation in festivities and the court’s revelry concerned him. He was often alone and forlorn. He cared little for the beauty and riches that surrounded him. Unable to understand what to make of him, the king summoned him one day and asked him about his life before meeting the king and what he wanted to make out of the future. Yousaf Khan said, “I left an old mother and a helpless sister back home in my village in search of revenge. The beauty of my land was in love with me and I was about to marry her but I could not allow myself the happiness until I had dealt with the relatives of mine who have turned against me and refuse to let us live in peace. Anger and vengeance fuel me every day and I will only be able to rest until I have set myself free of my enemies and can return to my mother, my sister and my wife.”
The king heard the story of how his relatives had troubled him. He felt sorry for this lonely man who was unable to find peace. The king promised him that as soon as winter came, he was free to take leave, along with as many men from the army as he wanted. He promised him wealth and aid of any kind he wanted in gratitude for all the years of loyal service. 
Yousaf Khan felt his burdens lighten with the words of the king and waited eagerly for winter.
Soon it was time to leave. Bidding farewell to the king and his friends at the court, Yousaf Khan set off for his village along with a small section of the army that he had trained and commanded. Near his village, he told his men to set camp and wait for his word. He dressed himself in beggar’s attire and entered his village.
He went straight to the house where he had grown up and found it grazed to the ground. Instead of it, there was a barn with animals in it. He asked a passerby what had happened to the people who lived here. He said that here lived a well-known hunter called Yousaf Khan, who had left his old mother and helpless sister to seek revenge. Driven by poverty and forced into labor, they now worked for the relatives who had driven Yousaf Khan away. Yousaf then asked about Sherbano. The stranger looked at him suspiciously and aasked if he knew them. He said he had been friends with them and wished to get back in touch. The stranger then told him that she had waited almost six years for Yousaf Khan to return and her father had succeeded in forcing her to marry Yousaf Khan’s cousin. He told him to listen to the sounds of drums nearby; the music was from her wedding.
Yousaf Khan thanked him and began to walk towards the sound of music. On his way he met a woman carrying a clay pot of water laboriously on her head. As she came closer, he realized it was Bulanda. She looked tired and much older than he remembered. He walked up to her and asked her if she was alright. Her heart heavy with sorrow, the beggar’s kind concern moved her to tears and between sobs, she told him of her lost brother, her mother whose grief had driven her blind and their laborious life. She said her eyes craved to see her brother’s face again. To that, Yousaf Khan replied, “Do you not recognize me, sister?” She looked at him and dropped her pail of water. She was crying too much to speak. Yousaf Khan stroked her head and told her to go to their mother and give her good tidings from him. He promised her that their bad times were over and soon they would live happily together again.
Having sent Bulanda away, he walked on towards Sherbano’s house. Among the spectators, he heard snickers and whispers of how the bride was throwing tantrums and refused to brush her hair or wash her face. Yousaf pulled out a cap that Sherbano had embroidered for him for their wedding and gave it to a child to hand it to her. Upon receiving the cap, Sherbano’s face immediately brightened and to her family’s relief, she got up to get dressed.
Yousaf Khan then returned to where Bulanda had told him his mother lived and fell at her feet when he saw her. She cradled his head in her lap and the small family had a tearful reunion that lasted for hours.
At dawn, Yousaf Khan set out to call his men. After the morning prayer was over and the people had returned to their houses from the mosque, he ordered his men to attack. He ordered them not to spare a single relative of his and to bring out every man in the village.
Only when Sherbano begged him to forgive the rest of the village did he let them go, but he did not spare his relatives who had held hostilities against him and his parents for so long. A Jirga convened immediately to hold Yousaf Khan on trial for the attack but they ruled in his favor as his cousins had wronged him before. Therefore, Yousaf Khan was not punished for the murder of his cousins and his property was returned to him.
His family lived with wealth and happiness after that and Yousaf Khan finally married Sherbano as a happy man.