Lacey observes, "Forty is the number which bedouin often pick upon when they wish to describe a smallish body of men, and forty is the number of companions which Abdul Aziz is said to have had with him when he left Kuwait in September 1901." (Lacey 1982, tr. 41) Lacey offers further insight into the ambiguity surrounding the details of the capture of Riyadh, whose place in Saudi Arabian folklore he compares to the Storming of the Bastille: Ibn Saud himself told numerous versions over the years, which is only partly attributable to Ibn Saud's excitability. According to Lacey, "He was spinning history in the way that the Old Testament scribes spun their legends or the creator of the Chanson de Roland wove his epic, for even today it remains the pleasant obstinacy of the Arab to be less captivated by the distinction between fact and fiction than by mystery, romance, poetry, imagination – and even downright caprice." (Lacey 1982, tr. 47) Lacey, Robert (1982). The Kingdom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN0-15-147260-2. Lacey, Robert (1982). The Kingdom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. ISBN0-15-147260-2.
