With bells ringing and brakes squealing, a trainload of men in crisp military uniforms pulled into the small lumber town of White River, Ontario, on August 24, 1914. In need of fresh air and a stretch of his legs after a long day on the rails, Lieutenant Harry Colebourn descended the steps of his railcar onto the station platform when an unusual sight caught his eye—a black bear cub no more than seven months old at the end of a leash held by a trapper seeking to attract the attention of a willing buyer.

Oh wait -
"Real life is too good for fiction"

.... a young boy named Christopher Robin Milne who repeatedly begged his father, author A.A. Milne, to take him to the zoo where he fed spoonfuls of condensed milk to the friendly black bear in between big, furry hugs.

.... Winnie the Pooh and other stuffed animals in Christopher Robin’s nursery—including Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo and Tigger—served as inspiration for his father’s most enduring writings. A.A. Milne had been a prolific playwright, screenwriter, detective novelist and contributor to the humor magazine Punch when he first brought the character Winnie-the-Pooh to life in his 1924 book of children’s poetry, “When We Were Very Young.”
.... Like Colebourn, Milne had served in World War I, and the idyllic setting of the 100-Acre Wood was a welcome sanctuary from the horrors of the Western Front that remained fresh in his mind and those of many readers in the 1920s.

Ok, this wasn't the article about what fame did to the real Christopher Robin.

https://www.history.com/news/the-true-story-of-the-real-life-winnie-the-pooh