Zorro (novel) blossoms into a romance, and Diego is forced to remain at home to recover after suffering a few broken ribs during the attack. Diego and Bernardo then undergo a test to prove their maturity and to find their spirit guide, a totemic animal which would guide the boys' future. Bernardo's spirit guide is a horse, in the form of Tornado, a motherless colt which Bernardo encounters and cares for. Diego's is a fox ("zorro" in his native Spanish) who saves his life. After the events in the forest, Alejandro, oblivious to the Indian training Diego has been receiving, receives a
Zorro time, while the rest of McCulley's Zorro stories didn't enjoy the same popularity, as most of them were never reprinted until the 21st century. Over 40 Zorro titled films were made over the years, including "The Mark of Zorro", the 1940 classic starring Tyrone Power. The character was also featured in ten TV series, the most famous being the Disney-produced "Zorro" series of 1957–'59, starring Guy Williams. Zorro appears in several stories written by other authors, comics books and strips, stage productions, video games and other media. McCulley died in 1958, just as Zorro was at the height of his