"This is where the bullfights took place," he said his face glowing with pride. "But the Cretan bullfights were not like the barbarous ones in Spain. There, so I'm told, the bull is killed and the horses disemboweled. Here the bullfight was a bloodless game. Man and bull played together. The bullfighter grasped the bull by the horns, the beast became angry and tossed his head high in the air, which enabled the bullfighter to gain momerntum and jump with a nimble somersault onto the bull's back. Then he made a second somersault and landed on his feet behind the bull's tail, where a young girl was waiting to clasp him in her arms."

Nikos Kazantzakis - Report to Greco p. 149/50 Faber Pb. edition