Pitsen is a forest creature in the

Siberian Tatars Siberian Tatars () are the Indigenous peoples of Siberia, indigenous Turkic languages, Turkic-speaking population of the forests and steppes of southern Western Siberia, originating in areas stretching from somewhat east of the Ural Mountains to ...

' mythology. Pitsen's role is contradictory. It could bring luck, but also troubles, leading humans to the wilderness.

Shapeshifting In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shapeshifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through unnatural means. The idea of shapeshifting is found in the oldest forms of totemism and shamanism, as well as the oldest existen ...

is common for Pitsen: he may look like an elder with a staff and knapsack, but also like different animals, for example

apes Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found glo ...

. Pitsen prefers to live in derelict lodges. He also likes to ride horses and to oil their mane with tar. Валеев Ф. Т., О религиозных представлениях западносибирских татар, в сб.: Природа и человек в религиозных представлениях народов Сибири и Севера, Л., 1976, с. 320-29. Pitsen, when transformed to a damsel, may have sexual intercourse or marry a human. One legend says that one hunter happened upon beautiful damsel in a forest and married her. Soon they become rich. Once he came home ahead of time and saw a tusky monster eating lizards. He cried, being horrified, and that moment his wife and his riches disappeared. Pitsen is a counterpart of Chuvash Arçuri and Volga-Ural Tatar

Şüräle Şüräle or Shurale (Tatar language, Tatar and Bashkir language, Bashkir: Шүрәле, Şüräle) is a forest spirit in Turkic mythology (especially Tatars, Tatar and Bashkirs, Bashkir). According to legends, Shurali lives in forests. He has lo ...

. In the mythology of the Siberian Tatars, Tobol and Omsk Tatars had shaggy and stinking ''yysh-keshe''.{{IPA, tt, jɯʃ kʲeˈʃe} They carry away travelers and force them to marry. At night the spirit of yysh-keshe used to fly away from an armpit.

References and footnotes

Siberian Tatars Shapeshifting Turkic legendary creatures Forest spirits

See also

References and footnotes