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
Gonzalo García Zorro whom García Zorro had helped to kill. Knowledge of the life of García Zorro comes from the works "Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias" (1589) and "El Carnero" (1638), by Juan de Castellanos and Juan Rodríguez Freyle respectively. Gonzalo García Zorro was born around 1500 in Guadalcanal, at the border between Extremadura and Seville. His parents were Teresa González de Sancha and Diego Alonso El Zorro. Gonzalo García Zorro had a brother, Antonio, and a sister. García Zorro joined the expedition led by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada from Santa Marta towards the Muisca Confederation in April 1536 as a cavalry