The mind painfully embraced Crete. He loved it like a living, warm thing that had a mouth and shouted, and eyes that wept, and it was not made of stones and soils and tree roots, but from thousands and thousands of grandfathers and mothers, who never die, but live and gather every Sunday in the churches and grow fierce every now and then, unrolling from the graves a colossal flag and seizing the mountains.
And on this flag, the immortal mothers, bent for years, have stitched with their raven-black, gray, and pure white hair the three immortal words: FREEDOM OR DEATH.
For a moment his lips, his brows, his eyes played; he looked around at his companions, down at Turkey, up at the uninhabited sky... "Freedom or death!" he murmured, wildly shaking his head. "Freedom or death, you poor Cretans! Freedom and death! This is what I must write on my flag; this is the true flag of every fighter! Freedom a n d death!"
The novels of his mature period are: The Life and Times of Alexis Zorbas, Captain Michalis, The Last Temptation, Christ Recrucified, Tonda Ramba, The Rock Garden, The Poor Man of God, Brother-Fighters.
As well as his historical autobiographical work: Report to Greco. Also published are the novels from the youthful period of Nikos Kazantzakis: Snake and Lily, Broken Souls.
