It is the eve of May 1, the cable railway is set up, and celebratory food and drink have been provided for the village. Zorba welcomes the villagers and explains the importance of the cable railway. He tells them that the Virgin herself helped him through a midnight visit. The monks arrive as he is telling the story, crying out that there’s been a miracle. The monks speak of Zacharias setting fire to the monastery and them crying out to the Virgin for vengeance. The next morning, they found Zacharias’s body in the chapel, dead before the icon, which has a bloodstain. The monks will take the icon in a procession around the villages of Crete. Zorba mutter that they are scoundrels.

After they bless the pylons, Zorba pulls the first cord. The structure seems unsteady, and the log shoots through the air. Zorba tries again, and the next log is pulverized. Zorba says the rope isn’t right yet. The next trunk falls back on the cable, throwing sparks. The pylons collapse with the fourth trunk, and Demetrios is wounded by splinters. The villagers run away, leaving Zorba and the narrator alone with the food. They eat and Zorba talks about how when he was a soldier surrounded by the enemy, he once had a fine meal comparable to what he is having now.