Is Winnie the Pooh a folk tale?

Answer 1

Milne gave his son a toy bear for his first birthday on Aug. 21, 1921. But that bear wasn't named Winnie: he was initially called Edward. The name Winnie came later, from a brown bear that young Christopher Robin Milne visited in the London Zoo. Harry Colebourn, a Canadian lieutenant and veterinary surgeon, had brought the bear cub to England at the beginning of World War I and named her for the city of Winnipeg, leaving her at the London Zoo when his unit left for France. Milne's introduction to his 1924 book When We Were Very Young traces the origin of the second half of the name to a swan: "Christopher Robin, who feeds this swan in the mornings, has given him the name of 'Pooh.