In "The Earth-Diver," Elli Kaija Köngäs asserts that:

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"There is a widespread notion of something which is with a person even when he is alone. This is something of a soul or spirit. The soul can take the form of an animal, mostly the form of a bird; actually the term "bird soul", Seelenvogel, is the terminus technicus for the wandering soul in folklore literature."

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Köngäs credits German scholar Ad. E. Jensen as stating that:

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"Wherever shamanistic practice is found, it is in connection with this dualistic world-concept, as a part of the characteristic capacities of the shaman, that his soul is able to leave his body."

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As a result, concludes Köngäs:

 

 "If this bird soul "can move independently of the owner's body, fulfil tasks which are not possible for the person himself, wander over the seas, and visit the other world. Could we not think that the helpful animal in the Earth-Diver is the bird soul of the creator (Köngäs 1960, 167)."