that she herself had experienced what a defenseless child could suffer under the hands of a farmer's wife. She believed that women often would discriminate pauper's children on behalf of those they themselves had given birth to. Ingeborg Refling Hagen's basic philosophy and thinking is a blend of Christian ideas and socialist thinking. The vision of collecting all myths and stories in one universal system of thoughts was in a way her lifelong project, as she put it: "making an archive for those that are to follow, so that they can work further". Hagen's philosophical outlook can most easily be spotted in her 1972 poem Guds Tuntre (The Courtyard Tree of God). Here, she describes the Norse World Tree Yggdrasil as planted by God, and takes comfort in the mythic explanation when she gets "dizzy from hurrying thoughts". She finds a quiet point, Tangen, and decides to work from there. Here, she finds friends and family, but acknowledges that "life comes from the same root". Yggdrasil is in fact the revolving earth, and all the world, all humanity, are inside its branches. Then, war comes, and the father in the poem enlists to defend the country. His farewell-song contains the statement that a conquering power never will win over a small country, mostly because the country always will live in the stories and the songs. The poem is patriotic, and universal at the same time. The father advises his children to: "...learn all the stories, all the songs, all the inherited wisdom from the generations before. Own the language, and you will prevail. Through the stories, you will find your way to the roots of the old tree, which is rooted in the old days, and spreads its branches all over the world. The people with a memory will live." Personal life In 1967, she was made a Knight 1st class in the Order of St. Olav. In 1971, she received the Hedmark Prize (Hedmarksprisen) and in 1975 she received the Norwegian Cultural Council's honorary prize (Norsk kulturråds ærespris). Hagen continued to write until she was almost 90 years. Her dark and dramatic side mellowed in her later production. She remained artistic director of Suttungteatret until 1985. Hagen died at her home, Fredheim at Tangen, in 1989. She was buried in the cemetery at Tangen Church (Tangen kirke) in Hedmark, alongside her sister, Hilda Johanne Hagen (1898–1972) and her older