Shakespeare made seven mentions of the cowslip, a flower so beloved by Englishmen that they considered it a favorite of the fairies. European cowslip was held in equal esteem by herbal practitioners. The 17th-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper claimed that any woman who used an ointment, or the distilled water of cowslip would become more beautiful. To this day, herbalists make a skin cleansing lotion from the herb.
Cowslip blossoms are said to be loved by fairies, who use them for umbrellas, and they protect the plants.
Shakespeare had a fairy saying of cowslips:
"And I serve the Fairy Queen,
To draw her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be,
In their gold coats spots you see:
Those be rubies, fairy favors:
In those freckles live their savors.
I must go to seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslips' ear."
Edmund Canterbell wrote, "That they do dwell within the cowslips hollow is truth for I have seen them fly out in intoxicated abandon." Cowslips are used in fairy magick. They are considered helpful in finding fairy treasures, and keys to unlocking the secret location of hidden fairy gold.
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