GUARDIAN SPIRITS.
§ 236. Each Teton may have his special guardian spirit. If such spirits are remembered they confer great power on their favorites. The latter may be surrounded by foes and yet escape, either by receiving great strength, enabling them to scatter their enemies, or by being made invisible, disappearing like a ghost or the wind. Sometimes it is said that one is rescued by being turned into a small bird that flies off in safety. (See §§ 122, 325.) This refers to those who “ihaŋbla” (have intercourse with spirits) or who have guardian spirits (tawaśićuŋpi) as servants. Bushotter’s stepfather has a guardian spirit who enabled him to tell about lost animals, etc., and bad deeds, even when the latter were committed in secret. So Bushotter and the other children of the household were afraid to do wrong after they had been detected several times by the aid of the guardian spirit.