Don,

The song you quoted above looks very much like an American version of the Scots Ballad "The Twa Corbies". I first came across it in a little book by Norman Buchan called "101 Scottish Songs".

The Twa Corbies

As I was walking all alane,
I heard twa corbies making a mane;
The tane unto the t'ither did say,
'Whaur sall we gang and dine the day?'

'It's in ahint yon auld fail dyke,
I wot there lies a new slain knight;
And naebody kens that he lies there,
But his hawk, his hound, and his lady fair.

'His hound is to the hunting gane,
His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame,
His lady's ta'en anither mate,
So we may mak our dinner swate.

'Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane,
And I'll pike oot his bonny blue een;
Wi ae lock o' his gouden hair
We'll theek oor nest when it grows bare.

'There's mony a ane for him makes mane,
But nane sall ken whaur he is gane;
O'er his white banes, when they are bare,
The wind sall blaw for evermair.

Some say this ballad is older than the Three Ravens and other argue that it is derived from the Three Ravens and is of relatively recent origin.

Whichever is the case both are fine ballads each taking a different slant on the opening scene.