Afterward the princess would have brought him back into the great hall to make him dine with her; but he, considering that he should then be obliged to show his face, which he had always taken care to conceal with Fatima’s veil, and fearing that the princess should find out that he was not Fatima, begged of her earnestly to excuse him, telling her that he never ate anything but bread and dried fruits, and desiring to eat that slight repast in his own apartment.  The princess granted his request, saying, “You may be as free here, good mother, as if you were in your own cell:  I will order you a dinner, but remember I expect you as soon as you have finished your repast.”

After the princess had dined, and the false Fatima had been sent for by one of the attendants, he again waited upon her.  “My good mother,” said the princess, “I am overjoyed to see so holy a woman as yourself, who will confer a blessing upon this palace.  But now I am speaking of the palace, pray how do you like it?  And before I show it all to you, tell me first what you think of this hall.”

Upon this question, the counterfeit Fatima surveyed the hall from one end to the other.  When he had examined it well, he said to the princess, “As far as such a solitary being as I am, who am unacquainted with what the world calls beautiful, can judge, this hall is truly admirable; there wants but one thing.”  “What is that, good mother?” demanded the princess; “tell me, I conjure you.  For my part, I always believed, and have heard say, it wanted nothing; but if it does, it shall be supplied.”

“Princess,” said the false Fatima, with great dissimulation, “forgive me the liberty I have taken; but my opinion is, if it can be of any importance, that if a roc’s egg were hung up in the middle of the dome, this hall would have no parallel in the four quarters of the world, and your palace would be the wonder of the universe.”

“My good mother,” said the princess, “what is a roc, and where may one get an egg?” “Princess,” replied the pretended Fatima, “it is a bird of prodigious size, which inhabits the summit of Mount Caucasus; the architect who built your palace can get you one.”

After the princess had thanked the false Fatima for what she believed her good advice, she conversed with her upon other matters; but could not forget the roc’s egg, which she resolved to request of Aladdin when next he should visit his apartments.  He did so in the course of that evening, and shortly after he entered, the princess thus addressed him:  “I always believed that our palace was the most superb, magnificent, and complete in the world:  but I will tell you now what it wants, and that is a roc’s egg hung up in the midst of the dome.”  “Princess,” replied Aladdin, “it is enough that you think it wants such an ornament; you shall see by the diligence which I use in obtaining it, that there is nothing which I would not do for your sake.”