20th Century Children's Authors - Milne
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     20th Century Children's Authors - A. A. Milne - The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh 

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     20thCCA_Milne_01

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     Dear Miss Montgomery,

The chronology of the
 autobiography is, of course, more accurate
than that of any magazine story you may
have read, and the ottoman incident
happened after the  publication of Pooh.
The truth (if this even interests anybody)
of the genesis of the stories is as follows:

Owing I suppose to the   
success of When We Were Very Young,
I was asked by an editor for a children's
story.  I wasn't keen to write one, but
my wife suggested that I could use
one of the stories I had told our child
at bed-time.  She had never heard
these, or she wouldn't have suggested
it.  A bed time story for a child is
 merely an excuse for postponing sleep
and these were just a progression
from one conventional dragon or
 what-not to another, with intermittent
warnings that the next one would have to
                 

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     20thCCA_Milne_02

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     be the last. However, I did remember
that among these flounders and absurd
postponements of the final "Good-nights"
Pooh and a balloon had once made
a fairly rational appearance. So
 I turned this  into the asked for
story...and, when more were
sought for other editions, kept Pooh,
 introduced the remaining animals, abandoned
  balloons, and became strictly realistic.

Yours sincerely,

A.A. Milne