In their gold coats spots you see;
Those be rubies, fairy favours:
In those freckles live their savours.”
Another of the flowers made potent use of by the Fairies of Shakspeare
is the Pansy—that “little Western flower” which Oberon bade Puck procure:—
“Fetch me that flower,—the herb I showed thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid,
Will make a man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees.”
The Anemone, or Wind-flower, is a recognised Fairy blossom. The crimson marks on its petals have been painted there by fairy hands; and, in wet weather, it affords shelter to benighted Elves, who are glad to seek shelter beneath its down-turned petals. Tulips are greatly esteemed by the Fairy folk, who utilise them as cradles in which to rock the infant Elves to sleep.