Forty. This number seems to have been, time out of mind, regarded with superstitious veneration alike by Jews and Moslems, since it prominently figures in the Bible and in Mohammedan writings. To cite some interesting examples from the notes to Mr W. A. Clouston's Group of Eastern Romances and Stories (privately printed, 1889): The Flood continued 40 days (Gen. vii. 17); Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife (Gen. xxv. 20), and Esau was of the same age when he wedded the two Hittite damsels (Gen. xxvi. 34); Joseph and his kinsmen fasted 40 days for their father Jacob (Gen. l. 3); thrice Moses fasted 40 days (Exod. xxiv. 18, xxxiv. 28; and Deut. ix. 9-25); during 40 days the Hebrew spies searched Canaan (Numb. xiii. 25); the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness 40 years (Numb. xiv. 33); Eli judged Israel 40 years (1 Sam. iv. 18); Goliath defied the
Hebrew army 40 days (1 Sam. xvii. 16); David and Solomon each reigned 40 years (2 Sam. v. 4; 1 Kings, ii. 11, xi. 42); Elijah fasted 40 days (1 Kings, xix. 8); Nineveh was to be destroyed after 40 days (Jonah, iii. 4); Ezekiel bore the iniquities of the house of Judah 40 days, a day for a year (Ezek. iv. 6); Christ was tempted by Satan in the wilderness after having fasted 40 days (Matt. iv. 2, and Mark, i. 13), and continued 40 days on earth after his resurrection (Acts, i. 3). For further biblical instances, see Exod. xxvi. 19; Josh. xiv. 7; Judges, iii. 11, viii. 28, xiii. 1; 2 Sam. xv. 7; 1 Kings, vi. 17, vii. 38; 2 Kings, viii. 9; Ezek. xxix. 11, 12; Acts, xxiii. 21; 2 Cor. xi. 24.
Moslems mourn 40 days for their dead, and they deem a woman ceremoniously unclean during 40 days after childbirth; among the Israelites the period was 40 days when she had given birth to a male child, and twice 40 in the case of a female child. In Moslem fictions the number 40 very frequently occurs; for instance, in the well-known Arabian 'Tale of the Third Calender,' his voyage is prosperous for 40 days; he is entertained by 40 fairy damsels who absented themselves for 40 days. In the ever-fresh tale of 'Aladdin and his Lamp,' when the magic palace has disappeared the sultan allows him 40 days to find it and the fair princess. In the Persian romance of Nâsîr, the hero is directed by the 'last will' of a pious hermit, whom he found dead in his cell, to spend 40 days in prayer for the restoration of the fairies' fountain; he shoots an arrow through a suspended finger-ring 40 times in succession; but his too expert archery caused an accident to the king, from which his majesty did not recover until he had been 40 days under medical treatment. In a subordinate story in the same romance poor Shah Mansur was in the power of a cruel sorceress for nearly 40 days; and in another interwoven story a young prince was tossed about in the sea in a boat for 40 days. The general number of a gang of robbers in Eastern tales is 40: we have a very familiar instance of this in the Arabian tale of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,' and another example is afforded us in the story of 'Almed the Cobbler' (Malcolm's Sketches of Persia), where the king's treasury is plundered by 40 robbers.
In Wales 40 loaves of bread and 40 dishes of butter are a common quantity in the records of rent paid to the Bishop of Llandaff. The fee of a bard for his song was 40 pence when he was a disciple, and twice forty for a master. The unthrifty 'Heir of Linne,' according to the fine old ballad, tried to borrow 40 pence of John o' the Scales, who had become the owner of his lands. A ship suspected of being infected with cholera, yellow fever, &c., is placed under quarantine—prohibited from landing passengers and discharging cargo for 40 days.