Tlingit and Haida TraditionHero
Kaatsʼ
Also known as Kats, Kâts!
A Tlingit hunter of the Kaagwaantaan clan at Sitka who married a bear woman and lived with her and their cubs, until, back among people, a moment's tenderness toward his human family cost him his life.
About Kaatsʼ
The man who married the bear
Swanton's Tlingit Myths and Texts (1909) records the story of Kâts!, a man of the Kâ'gwAntân (Kaagwaantaan) clan who lived at Sitka. He is taken as a husband by a female bear, and he lives with her and has children with her, cubs who are part human.
Two families
When Kaats' returns to his people, the bear wife lets him go on one condition: he must not touch or smile at his human wife and children. He keeps hunting for his bear family, bringing game to the shore for the cubs to haul away. But one day, moved by his human family, he breaks the promise, and his bear children kill him.
What the story explains
Swanton's text ties the story to the reasons people did not eat grizzly bear meat and follows the fate of Kaats' bear children, the last of whom was killed at White Stone Narrows. The story belongs to the Kaagwaantaan, for whom the bear is a crest, and versions of the bear-husband and bear-wife story are told across the Northwest Coast and interior.
On parentage: A mortal man of the Kaagwaantaan clan of Sitka.
Key deeds
- Lived with a bear wife and fathered bear children
- Returned to his people and hunted to feed both families
- Was bound by a promise not to touch or smile at his human family
Fate
He broke his promise and was killed by his bear children; the story explains a Tlingit avoidance of grizzly meat and is associated with the Kaagwaantaan bear crest.
Sources and further reading
Source notes
These references are recorded in the catalog. Their passage wording and translation have not been checked, so quotations are not displayed here.
- John R. Swanton, Tlingit Myths and Texts (Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 39), story 19, "Kâts!"
About this entry
By Elizabeth Stein for Mythos Atlas. About the author. Editorial notes are grounded in the site's cited sources and can be challenged through the contact page.
Hero legends were retold for centuries, and the sources often disagree on parentage, deeds and death. This entry follows the best-known versions and notes the main alternatives.