Chapter 21 Summary

On Easter Sunday, the men prepare a holiday feast in honor of Madame Hortense. A messenger soon arrives to inform Zorba that his fiancye is ill. Zorba checks in on her, and then returns to the beach to enjoy the meal he and the narrator have prepared. After dinner, Zorba insists on going into the village to enjoy the Easter festivities, but the narrator abstains. Eventually, the storyteller walks into town alone. On the way, he meets the widow. This time, with Zorba's free-spirited lyric in his head, the narrator finds the courage to pursue the widow and does so successfully. The narrator feels joyful contentment, and his companion, Zorba, is quite proud of his boss. In the morning, too, the narrator realizes he has finished his Buddha manuscript and can forget about the Enlightened One forever. With Zorba working on the railway...