In response to Caryn: Full post here
Caryn noted that trees often appear in many stories and they always represent knowledge.
I wonder how much of that comes from the fact that trees have incredible life spans. When you mentioned Legend of Zelda, I instantly became more interested. The Great Deku tree in that games was one of the first living organisms created, and as such, has obtained a vast amount of knowledge. If I remember correctly, the great deku tree was based off of Jomon Sugi, a tree whose age is estimated to be between two and seven thousand years old. Additionally, there are many other tree's that have incredible ages, like the Methuselah tree in California (named after Methuselah from the bible). There is also a clonal colony of Aspens which has been determined to be part of the same organism. OECD estimates that it's roots are upwards of 75,000 years old. With age comes knowledge, I suppose.
Also, it's pretty strange that religions like Christianity and Zoroastrianism deal out punishment for becoming knowledgeable. From the very beginning, it appears, these religions don't want anybody to know anything.
Also, the Bodhi tree (the tree under which the Buddha was enlightened) is and was worshiped for its relationship to the Buddha and as a living connection to the enlightenment. Before the original tree was killed it was ascribed immortality by certain sects and it was said that it was the first thing to exist and the last thing to disappear at the end of this universe. According to your idea about the association with trees and knowledge, it would seem that that tree's myth of immortality (it was cut down) would be a logical step in the minds of Buddhist worshipers.
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