Zorro (novel) young man left California and was educated in Spain, before returning to don the Zorro mask. A speculative attempt to fuse together these disparate accounts is found in the on-line article "Legacy of the Fox". A young adult novel, "Young Zorro: The Iron Brand", was published at around the same time as Allende's novel. It was written by young adult author and illustrator Jan Adkins, a technical advisor for Allende's story. It is the story of how Spanish Alta California, Pueblo de Los Angeles, and the Californio vaquero heritage at the beginning of the 19th century shaped fifteen-year-old Diego de
Zorro and cunning for the bumbling authorities to catch, and he also delights in publicly humiliating them. Zorro is an acrobat and an expert in various weapons, but the one he employs most frequently is his rapier, which he uses often to carve the initial "Z" on his defeated foes, and other objects. He is also an accomplished rider, his trusty steed being a black horse called Tornado. Zorro is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega (originally "Don Diego Vega"), a young man who is the only son of Don Alejandro de la Vega (originally "Don Alejandro Vega"),