my mother sang the song entirely differently. I learned it when in 1950 shortly after World War II ended and we were living in Germany. This was my mother‘s version. She was black foot snd Sioux.

Far beyond the rolling prairie
where the noble Forest rise
Lived The fairest Indian maiden
ever seen by mortal eyes
Falling leaves the breezes murmured,
daughter of an Indian chief
Came to gladden our homes in Autumn
and we called her falling leaves
.
Falling leaves , the breezes murmured,
, falling leaves the river sighed
She was the fairest little maiden
ever seen by mortal eyes

Then out of the tangled forrest
All alone one summer day
Came a warrior worn and wounded
And into her hut did stray
Weeks passed by and still he lingered
Gentle falling Leaves beside
and with smiles of love, she promised
Soon to be the warriors bride
chorus
One bright day, the warrior wandered
over the prairie face alone
All in vain, she watched and waited
But his fate was never known
Like the springtime flowers, she faded
Like the autumn leaves, she died
And we closed her eyes in sadness
By the weeping River side
chorus
But above us in the heavens
Shines a maidens holy light
And from out of her lonely wigwam
Comes a woe on war each night