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Paper short abstract

The transformation of humans into non-human animals in Serbian aetiological belief narratives, usually of young, liminal figures, is explored through different frameworks, which include punishment, salvation, or release from societal roles, while also reflecting cultural patterns.

Paper long abstract

Aetiological belief narratives represent a narrative form that explains the origins, causes, and structure of phenomena in nature and society. Some belief narratives centre on the transformation of humans into non-human animals, such as narratives about the origin of the cuckoo, the swallow, the bear, the mole, or the chick. Although these aetiologies are often associated with moral or punitive functions, the act of bodily transformation can be interpreted beyond this framework.

The subject of transformation is usually a young person – a girl or a boy who has not yet assumed social or gender roles. Positioned in a liminal state between childhood and adulthood, these figures are marked by indeterminacy and symbolic openness to change. Neither fully a child nor entirely integrated into adult society, they become particularly susceptible to transformation. The metamorphosis is not necessarily a consequence of transgression; at times, it occurs as a form of salvation – a means of escaping threat, violence, or other life circumstances that allow no resolution within the human domain.

The transformation into a non-human animal in aetiological belief narratives can also signify a release from social constraints, roles, and expectations. It marks not only a physical but also an ontological shift – the new existence becomes a strategy of survival where human agency has failed, offering a rebalancing between natural law and human values. On a cultural level, such transformations can be interpreted within the fact that fairy tales about persecuted maidens and children are frequent in Serbian folktale collections.