Pitsen is a forest creature in the

Siberian Tatars Siberian Tatars ( sty, , ), the ethnographic and ethnoterritorial group of Tatars of Western Siberia, the indigenous Turkic-speaking population of the forests and steppes of Western Siberia, originate in areas stretching from somewhat east of ...

' 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, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, Magic (paranormal), sorcery, Incantation, ...

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 clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

. 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 Shurale (Tatar and Bashkir: Шүрәле, �yræˈlɘ russian: Шурале) is a forest spirit in Tatar and Bashkir mythology. According to legends, Şüräle lives in forests. He has long fingers, a horn on its forehead, and a woolly body. He ...

. 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