Astrological analysis

We're coming to the end of the dog days now, which traditionally contain the hottest days of the year and are always in July and August, though different traditions give different dates. The term is linked to the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises just before the sun does. This though, is not the first day that the sun is visible with Sirius; it's the first time Sirius is visible with the sun. For the previous forty days Sirius hasn't been visible at all, at sunrise, sunset or at any time in between: he's been away, invisible, hidden. All the stars and constellations are invisible for a while at some stage during the year, including all the giants and heroes of the skies, like Orion and Hercules. So when you read, in a fairy story or somewhere else, that the hero wanders in places unknown for forty days or some similar time before returning to claim his kingdom (or the princess), you will know that as usual the idea (and the numbers) came first from the stars.