After further research I found out that there is a similar type of story in almost every culture.
Which leads me to conclude that identity and our public persona is something that is prevalent for all walks of life.
The interesting thing to me is that in the story of the swan maidens and many of the stories there is a hidden clothing that can be stolen, so our identity can be taken away from us. And then by some miracle we could find ourselves again so the saying 'I need to find myself' isn't a cheap excuse but rather is something that consistently appears throughout mankind's history as a normal human need.
Or as normal as you can get by taking the shape of an animal.
