Zorbas fell in love with the 16-year-old daughter of the janitor, Eleni Kalkouni. After Eleni got pregnant, they left together and got married in secret. Helen gave birth to twins, but her angry father kidnapped them when he learned about their marriage. On the way back, in the snow and on the horse, one of the two babies died, which made the old man collapse. The couple had eight more children. Eleni was a true Amazon and Zorbas loved her a lot, but he lost her to tuberculosis when she was thirty-three. Later Zorbas took six of his children and brought them with him to Kalogria in 1917. Despite his turbulent romantic life, he never remarried.