once upon a time there lived a lady young and fair raven hair and rosy cheeks and no one to compare daughter of a noble man in a little town and her name was nora lee, and it was spoken all around
it’s told that she was courted by two men of different kin one of them a shoemaker that made boots of lizard skin the other was the sheriff in this little town and he swore he’d marry her or else he’d put her in the ground
one night the moon was brightly shining in the sky she went to see the shoemaker and with him she did lie “you are my own true love” she whispered soft and low but they’d been spied upon that night, and soon the sheriff he would know
then came a cold and dark night and the wind was blowin’ free the sheriff and his men they tied poor nora to a tree full of wickedness they stole her maidenhead then they stabbed her with a knife ‘till they were sure she was dead
her body it was found the next day on the banks below the news was heard and many hearts were filled with grief and woe “the guilty one will soon be hung” the sheriff he did claim and he called upon his men, the shoemaker to blame
the scaffold it was built and all the people gathered round just to watch that poor boy taken to his hangin’ ground the rope was tied around his neck for everyone to see and as the hangman pulled the rope, then he would meet his nora lee