There is much fuss over Winnie the Pooh these days, which by some estimates brings in over a billion dollars a year in Pooh merchandise to the Walt Disney Company. With the amount of money Pooh is worth, it was no wonder that Walt Disney World’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was shut down to be replaced with a Winnie the Pooh ride in the face of so many Toad fans. It could have been an early sign that money, not the guest, ruled the company. At the very least, in that particular decision.

But let us not forget that there is more of a connection between these two famous anthropomorphic stories. Obviously, both had the Disney treatment. The Wind in the Willows was not very successful, but Disney was not doing well financially at the time as the Disney Studio was still recovering from a strike and a war that almost shut the studio down forever.

Winnie the Pooh, originally Edward, gets his name from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Not directly though. A black bear cub that was bought by a hunter for $20 and shortly became a national mascot for W.W.I. and was named Winnipeg after the town. A. A. Milne and his son, Christopher Robin Milne, frequented London Zoo that housed her. Christopher took such a liking to the bear that he named his teddy bear Winnie. Various stories come about from where “the-Pooh” comes from. Some say a swan, but the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh says it was due to how stiff Winnie’s arms were, and if a fly should land, he would have to blow it off.

They had A. A. Milne in common. Yes, he only wrote Winnie-the-Pooh and subsequent stories. However, he was a playwright that had taken a liking to The Wind in the Willows, saving the book from obscurity. Milne was certainly inspired by the story and wrote his own imaginative tales. Also, the 1931 edition of The Wind in the Willows was illustrated by E. H. Sheppard, the same talented illustrator for Winnie-the-Pooh.

While you can certainly ride both rides at Disneyland, I recommend reading the original stories. Start with Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. The story is a delightful tale of Mole and his friends that includes, you guessed it, Mr. Toad. It certainly has a catching first chapter, and by many accounts is the best first chapter of any story ever written. So if you simply read the first line, then you will want to read the first chapter. And if you read the first chapter… Oh, you know what you will have to do.

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