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