The Iraqi National Theater is preparing to turn a romantic novel apparently written by President Saddam Hussein into a musical touted as the country's biggest ever production.

Al-Mawed, a weekly state-run tabloid, said Monday Iraqi artists were rehearsing scenes from ``Zabiba and the King,'' a patriotic parable depicting a ruler who falls in love with an unhappily married woman.

``It will be the largest production in the long history of Iraqi theater. This is an epic teaching to love one's homeland despite all danger,'' the paper said. It said the play would open before the end of the year.

Babil, a newspaper owned by Saddam's son Uday, last month said the president was the most likely author of the 160-page ''Zabiba,'' which went on sale several months ago and has been heavily promoted by the official press.

In the story, the king's lover Zabiba is raped on January 17 -- the same day U.S.-led forces launched the 1991 offensive that drove Iraq out of Kuwait, forcing subsequent Iraqi surrender and a sharp economic decline, which Iraq blames on the U.N. sanctions regime.

The king dies after capturing the rapists and avenging Zabiba's honor.

Besides the love story, the novel is dominated by talk of how to succeed the king. It prompted speculation that 64-year-old Saddam, who has ruled Iraq since 1979, is preparing to hand over power to one of his sons.