Work Text:
‘Twas seven long years since winter had come
And the snows lay thick and deep,
And ‘twas seven long years that sorrow had lain
O’er a young maid’s home and keep.
The house of her birth was once noble and proud
All were gone but the daughters three
And her sisters bore children who sickened and died
And never the summer would see.
On the darkest night of the seventh year
She rose with the midnight bell
And she woke her two sisters from grief-worn sleep
To bid them her last farewell
“I am off to the North,” said the brave young maid,
“To serve under the oath of black
For the winter has taken the land of my birth
And ‘tis high time we took it back.”
Her sisters, they pleaded with her to remain
But her heart would not be turned
So the eldest stood with one last request
As 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 cold
That 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 winds
Then this land ever shall see.”
So her first sister gave her a cloak of black
To guard her from winter’s cold,
As her second sister rose with pleading eyes
And 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 thick
That 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 nights
Than this land ever shall see.”
So the second sister gave her a lantern bright
To shield her from night’s embrace
That she might have light in the land where the sun
Would never more warm her face.
And she’s wrapped herself in her cloak of black
And taken her lantern bright,
And she’s fast away from her home and kin
To do battle with the night.
Through wind and wood she journeyed on
Never resting day nor night,
Until at last she saw the Wall looming above
And the guardians who stood at its height.
From high above, the men of the Watch
Cried 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 Watch
From now to the day I die.”
And her new brothers gave her a sword and shield
And a dagger as black as the night
And the maid of the mountains she faded away
As the boy Danny Flint took flight.
Out into the wilds rode her brothers and she
Fighting beasts and Others and men
And at nightfall each evening the Wall, it would weep
As in triumph they rode back again.
Til one day, in battle, so savage and fierce
Brave Danny was wounded sore
And she fell in the snow, and her eyes fell closed
And her secret was guarded no more.
To the Nightfort her brothers did bear her away
And when her wounds they did tend
They saw not the form of their Brave Danny Flint
But a maiden of six and ten.
Three days and three nights brave Danny lay still
And as she rose before fourth day’s dawn,
Her brothers they stood with their swords at their sides
And 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 Watch
And her life and her honor she’d pay.
And they’ve torn away her cloak of black
And they’ve snuffed out her lantern bright
And 'twas bare and alone that she stood in the snow
In 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 beasts
Than the brothers I took as my own.”
But when the morning came at last
And the sun shone bright and fair,
It lit her bare body, laid broken and still
And her skin was as cold as the air.
Brave Danny was burned as the sun sank low
Carried off on the winter’s breath
And 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 gone
And her bones are but ashes and dust
And the wide endless North, it shows nary a trace
Of a young maid, proud and just.
But out in the Nightfort her shade finds no rest
And some say it never will.
Though winters and summers have come and gone
Her sorrow it lingers still.
She looks for a cloak for her ice-cold bones
And a lantern to light up her way
And cold steel for the brothers who stole her young life
At the dawn of that winter’s day.