a 'sylvan sprite, nymph, or hamadryad' who, when the oak was cut down and burnt, was obliged to seek another dwelling-place and so was found, 'as if dead, in this sarcophagus.' … Mythologically, nymphs, dryads, etc. are nature- and tree-numina
Jung identifies the dryad/hamadryad as a paradigmatic instance of anima projected into arboreal form, whose displacement from the felled oak dramatizes the soul's need to find new containers for unconscious energy.
, Mysterium Coniunctionis: An Inquiry into the Separation and Synthesis of Psychic Opposites in Alchemy, 1955thesis