Chapter 9 Summary

Zorba strikes upon some very good lignite in the mines and begins dreaming of the adventures he and the boss may undertake with the profits. One night he questions the narrator on the existence of God. When he does not receive an answer, Zorba explains that he believes God is a wilder, crazier version of himself, and that he wipes away a man's sins without prejudice - "Because God, you know, is a great lord, and that's being a lord means: to forgive!" (105). What Zorba cannot forgive, though, is that his boss will still not sleep with the widow, and since God is like Zorba, He will not, of course, let the narrator off the hook, either.

The next day, calamity strikes as the mine collapses. Thanks to Zorba's warning, the men escape with their lives. Unwilling to accept his workers' thanks, though...