Before entering upon the further mysteries which the beautiful myth reveals to us, there is still much to be said about the symbol of the tree. Osiris lies in the branches of the tree, surrounded by them, as in the mother’s womb. The motive of _embracing and entwining_ is often found in the sun myths, meaning that it is the _myth of rebirth_. A good example is the Sleeping Beauty, also the legend of the girl who is enclosed between the bark and the trunk, but who is freed by a youth with his horn.[489] The horn is of gold and silver, which hints at the sunbeam in the phallic meaning. (Compare the previous legend of the horn.) An exotic legend tells of the sun-hero, how he must be freed from the plant entwining around him.[490] A girl dreams of her lover who has fallen into the water; she tries to save him, but first has to pull seaweed and sea-grass from the water; then she catches him. In an African myth the hero, after his act, must first be disentangled from the seaweed. In a Polynesian myth the hero’s ship was encoiled by the tentacles of a gigantic polyp. Rê’s ship is encoiled by a night serpent on its night journey on the sea. In the poetic rendering of the history of Buddha’s birth by Sir Edwin Arnold (“The Light of Asia,” p. 5) the motive of an embrace is also found: “Queen Maya stood at noon, her days fulfilled, Under a Palso in the palace grounds, A stately trunk, straight as a temple shaft, With crown of glossy leaves and fragrant blooms; And knowing the time come—for all things knew— The conscious tree bent down its boughs to make A bower about Queen Maya’s majesty: And earth put forth a thousand sudden flowers To spread a couch: while ready for the bath The rock hard by gave out a limpid stream Of crystal flow. So brought she forth the child.”[491]