Quite often ears of corn appear that are marked by some unusual form; and for the more marked of these forms, we had special names. Following are some of them:
Na’´ta-tawo´xi. From na’´ta, grain; and tawo´xi, a name applied to youth, or the young, and conveying the idea of small. This is an ear of corn having seventeen or eighteen rows of very small kernels. Our largest ears of corn had usually but fourteen rows of kernels of normal size.
In the old legends of my tribe appear many women bearing this name Na’´ta-tawo´xi.
Wi´da-Aka´ta. From wi´da, goose; and aka´ta, roof of the mouth. This is an ear having two rows of corn on either side, with vacant spaces on the cob between the double rows; often, toward the larger end of the ear, the two rows will expand into three. Goodbird has made a drawing of such an ear ([figure 19]). A wi´da-aka´ta ear, we thought, looks like the roof of the mouth of a goose.
I´ta-Ca´ca. Forked face, or cloven face; from i´ta, face. A kind of double ear. Goodbird has made a drawing of one ([figure 20]).
Okĕi´jpita. From o´kĕ, or o´ki, head-ornament, plume; i´jpu, top; and i´ta, fruit. This is a small ear that sometimes appears at the top, on the tassel of the plant.
Okĕi´jpita ears, if large enough, we gathered and put in with the rest of the harvest; but smaller ears of this kind, hardly worth threshing, we gathered and fed to our horses. Sometimes, if the harvesters were in haste, these ears were left in the field on the stalk; a pony was then led into the field to crop the ears.
I´tica´kupadi. I´tica´kupadi, or muffled head; so called because the kernels come down and cover the face or bearded end of the cob quite to the point. We thought such an ear looked like a man with his head muffled up in his robe.
Muffled-head ears were more numerous in good crop years than in poor years; and we thought such ears, if otherwise well favored, made good seed corn.