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‘Twas seven long years since winter had comeAnd the snows lay thick and deep,And ‘twas seven long years that sorrow had lainO’er a young maid’s home and keep.
The house of her birth was once noble and proudAll were gone but the daughters threeAnd her sisters bore children who sickened and diedAnd never the summer would see.
On the darkest night of the seventh yearShe rose with the midnight bellAnd she woke her two sisters from grief-worn sleepTo bid them her last farewell
“I am off to the North,” said the brave young maid,“To serve under the oath of blackFor the winter has taken the land of my birthAnd ‘tis high time we took it back.”
Her sisters, they pleaded with her to remainBut her heart would not be turnedSo the eldest stood with one last requestAs the fear in her eyes shone and burned.
“O sister,” she said, “Do not leave us tonight,But wait for the break of day,For here in the night there are winds so coldThat they surely shall sweep you away
“‘Tis the chill of death,” said the brave young maid,“But no fear shall come for me,For I go to the North to find colder windsThen this land ever shall see.”
So her first sister gave her a cloak of blackTo guard her from winter’s cold,As her second sister rose with pleading eyesAnd spoke to the maiden bold.
“O sister,” she said, “Do not leave us tonight,But wait for the break of dawn,For the mountains are shrouded in darkness so thickThat you shall be lost, ne’er to go on.”
“The path is dark,” said the brave young maid,“But no fear shall come for me,For I go to the North to find blacker nightsThan this land ever shall see.”
So the second sister gave her a lantern brightTo shield her from night’s embraceThat she might have light in the land where the sunWould never more warm her face.
And she’s wrapped herself in her cloak of blackAnd taken her lantern bright,And she’s fast away from her home and kinTo do battle with the night.
Through wind and wood she journeyed onNever resting day nor night,Until at last she saw the Wall looming aboveAnd the guardians who stood at its height.
From high above, the men of the WatchCried out “Who goes below?For ‘tis men of the wild, and things stranger still,That journey through storm and snow.”
“I am Danny Flint,” said the brave young maid,“A boy from the mountains high,And my life and my honor I pledge to the WatchFrom now to the day I die.”
And her new brothers gave her a sword and shieldAnd a dagger as black as the nightAnd the maid of the mountains she faded awayAs the boy Danny Flint took flight.
Out into the wilds rode her brothers and sheFighting beasts and Others and menAnd at nightfall each evening the Wall, it would weepAs in triumph they rode back again.
Til one day, in battle, so savage and fierceBrave Danny was wounded soreAnd she fell in the snow, and her eyes fell closedAnd her secret was guarded no more.
To the Nightfort her brothers did bear her awayAnd when her wounds they did tendThey saw not the form of their Brave Danny FlintBut a maiden of six and ten.
Three days and three nights brave Danny lay stillAnd as she rose before fourth day’s dawn,Her brothers they stood with their swords at their sidesAnd her own shining blades, they were gone.
“There’s but one use for a woman here,And we know it well,” said they.‘Twas her life and her honor she’d pledged to the WatchAnd her life and her honor she’d pay.
And they’ve torn away her cloak of black
And they’ve snuffed out her lantern brightAnd 'twas bare and alone that she stood in the snowIn the dark of the moonless night.
“You frighten me not,” said brave Danny Flint,As she faced them, as still as a stone.“For I came to the North to find crueler beastsThan the brothers I took as my own.”
But when the morning came at lastAnd the sun shone bright and fair,It lit her bare body, laid broken and stillAnd her skin was as cold as the air.
Brave Danny was burned as the sun sank lowCarried off on the winter’s breathAnd the Wall did not weep, nor her brothers in black,As sun set on the day of her death.
‘Tis many long years Brave Danny’s been goneAnd her bones are but ashes and dustAnd the wide endless North, it shows nary a traceOf a young maid, proud and just.
But out in the Nightfort her shade finds no restAnd some say it never will.Though winters and summers have come and goneHer sorrow it lingers still.
She looks for a cloak for her ice-cold bonesAnd a lantern to light up her wayAnd cold steel for the brothers who stole her young lifeAt the dawn of that winter’s day.