diff --git a/perl-package/AI-MXNet/lib/AI/MXNet/Base.pm b/perl-package/AI-MXNet/lib/AI/MXNet/Base.pm
index a8da8470f574..4002bbf5d369 100644
--- a/perl-package/AI-MXNet/lib/AI/MXNet/Base.pm
+++ b/perl-package/AI-MXNet/lib/AI/MXNet/Base.pm
@@ -120,12 +120,17 @@ use constant GRAD_REQ_MAP => {
 
 sub zip
 {
-    my ($sub, @arrays) = @_;
-    my $len = @{ $arrays[0] };
-    for (my $i = 0; $i < $len; $i++)
+    if('CODE' eq ref $_[0])
     {
-        $sub->(map { $_->[$i] } @arrays);
+        # continue supporting the callback style
+        my $code = shift;
+        $code->(@$_) for AI::MXNetCAPI::py_zip(map { \@$_ } @_);
+        return;
     }
+    # the map() here may seem like a no-op, but triggers overloading or
+    # whatever else is needed to make array-ish things actually arrays
+    # before entering the low level list builder.
+    return AI::MXNetCAPI::py_zip(map { \@$_ } @_);
 }
 
 =head2 enumerate
diff --git a/perl-package/AI-MXNet/t/test_base.t b/perl-package/AI-MXNet/t/test_base.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..935f3b2bd03e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/perl-package/AI-MXNet/t/test_base.t
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Test::More;
+use AI::MXNet qw(mx);
+use AI::MXNet::TestUtils qw(same reldiff GetMNIST_ubyte GetCifar10);
+
+sub test_builtin_zip()
+{
+    is_deeply(
+        [ AI::MXNet::zip([ 0 .. 9 ], [ 10 .. 19 ]) ],
+        [ map { [ $_, 10 + $_ ] } 0 .. 9 ]);
+    is_deeply(
+        [ AI::MXNet::zip([ 0 .. 9 ], [ 10 .. 19 ], [ 20 .. 29 ]) ],
+        [ map { [ $_, 10 + $_, 20 + $_ ] } 0 .. 9 ]);
+    my $over = ListOverload->new(10 .. 19);
+    is_deeply(
+        [ AI::MXNet::zip([ 0 .. 9 ], \@$over) ],
+        [ map { [ $_, 10 + $_ ] } 0 .. 9 ]);
+    my $tied = ListTied->new(10 .. 19);
+    is_deeply(
+        [ AI::MXNet::zip([ 0 .. 9 ], \@$tied) ],
+        [ map { [ $_, 10 + $_ ] } 0 .. 9 ]);
+}
+
+
+test_builtin_zip();
+done_testing();
+
+package ListTied {
+    sub new {
+        my($class, @list) = @_;
+        my @tied;
+        tie @tied, $class, @list;
+        return \@tied;
+    }
+    sub TIEARRAY {
+        my($class, @list) = @_;
+        return bless { list => \@list }, $class;
+    }
+    sub FETCH {
+        my($self, $index) = @_;
+        return $self->{list}[$index];
+    }
+    sub STORE {
+        my($self, $index, $value) = @_;
+        return $self->{list}[$index] = $value;
+    }
+    sub FETCHSIZE {
+        my($self) = @_;
+        return scalar @{$self->{list}};
+    }
+    sub STORESIZE {
+        my($self, $count) = @_;
+        return $self->{list}[$count - 1] //= undef;
+    }
+    sub EXTEND {
+        my($self, $count) = @_;
+        return $self->STORESIZE($count);
+    }
+    sub EXISTS {
+        my($self, $key) = @_;
+        return exists $self->{list}[$key];
+    }
+    sub DELETE {
+        my($self, $key) = @_;
+        return delete $self->{list}[$key];
+    }
+    sub CLEAR {
+        my($self) = @_;
+        return @{$self->{list}} = ();
+    }
+    sub PUSH {
+        my($self, @list) = @_;
+        return push @{$self->{list}}, @list;
+    }
+    sub POP {
+        my($self) = @_;
+        return pop @{$self->{list}};
+    }
+    sub SHIFT {
+        my($self) = @_;
+        return shift @{$self->{list}};
+    }
+    sub UNSHIFT {
+        my($self, @list) = @_;
+        return unshift @{$self->{list}}, @list;
+    }
+    sub SPLICE {
+        my($self, $offset, $length, @list) = @_;
+        return splice @{$self->{list}}, $offset, $length, @list;
+    }
+    sub UNTIE {
+        my($self) = @_;
+    }
+    sub DESTROY {
+        my($self) = @_;
+    }
+}
+
+package ListOverload {
+    use overload '@{}' => \&as_list;
+    sub new {
+        my($class, @list) = @_;
+        return bless { list => \@list }, $class;
+    }
+    sub as_list { return $_[0]{list} }
+}
+
diff --git a/perl-package/AI-MXNetCAPI/mxnet.i b/perl-package/AI-MXNetCAPI/mxnet.i
index e466e98b7842..663a0c285f0b 100644
--- a/perl-package/AI-MXNetCAPI/mxnet.i
+++ b/perl-package/AI-MXNetCAPI/mxnet.i
@@ -106,7 +106,44 @@ static void ExecutorMonitor_callback(const char* name, NDArrayHandle handle, voi
 
 %}
 
+%{
+
+/* this is an adaptation of Python/bltinmodule.c's builtin_zip() */
+XS(py_zip) {
+    dXSARGS;
+    I32 i;
+    I32 len = -1;
+    AV *l[items];
+
+    for(i = 0; i < items; i++) {
+        AV *av = (AV *)SvRV(ST(i));
+        I32 thislen;
+
+        if(SvTYPE(av) != SVt_PVAV)
+            croak("zip argument#%d must be an array", i);
+        thislen = av_len(av) + 1;
+        if(len < 0 || thislen < len)
+            len = thislen;
+        l[i] = av;
+    }
+    EXTEND(SP, len);
+    for(i = 0; i < len; i++) {
+        I32 j;
+        SV *next[items];
+
+        for(j = 0; j < items; j++) {
+            SV **sv = av_fetch(l[j], i, 0);
+            next[j] = sv ? *sv : &PL_sv_undef;
+        }
+        ST(i) = sv_2mortal(newRV_noinc((SV *)av_make(items, next)));
+    }
+    XSRETURN(len);
+}
+
+%}
+
 %init %{
+    newXS(SWIG_prefix "py_zip", py_zip, (char *)__FILE__);
     /* These SWIG_TypeClientData() calls might break in the future, but
      * %rename should work on these types before that happens. */
     SWIG_TypeClientData(SWIGTYPE_p_MXNDArray, (void *)"NDArrayHandle");