Quarantine is a period of isolation of people, animals, or goods initiated during great plagues that most likely came to Europe from Asia. It goes back to the Fourteenth Century, when it was introduced by the Venetian Senate to control shipping along its shores. In Veneto, the language of the Serene Republic, it is known as quarantina. According to some sources, the plague took thirty-seven days to kill a person, which is why the isolation lasted three days longer. But number forty has much deeper roots in the Middle East and beyond. For instance, it often appears in the Bible: the great flood came after forty days of incessant rain, Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai, Jesus was tempted by the devil for forty days in the Judean Desert, Lent obliges forty days of fasting to abet Jesus’ resurrection, mourning of the dead requires forty days, and so on. And this particular number also appears in many a tale in The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, which brings together much of the wisdom of Asia entire: forty beautiful maidens, forty dishes in a feast, forty thieves, washing hands forty times with soda, forty ebony doors leading to fabulous riches, forty days of solitude, forty camels in a caravan, and so forth. Clearly, forty is a magical number with long tradition across many entwined religions and cultures stretching eastward all the way to India and China. I only wonder why the current quarantine across the globe is not following the old recipe to the letter. How else can the novel coronavirus pandemic be conquered if not by good old magic that everyone understands without any trouble?