What a mental picture that is.....O my Lord....I'll be having nightmares tonight for sure....Maybe if I play some Old Timey Gospel it will relax and calm the frazzled mentals....

On a more serious note, the Loch Lomond story I got from a friend who sings a very beautiful version of the song is that it is the story of two captured soldiers, both from the same village. One was condemned to die and the other released. The song is the words of the condemned prisoner to his fellow villager...Again, here the 'low road' is the one that follows death, while the 'high road' takes the living home. So as is typical of folklore, one doesn't know which version to subscribe to, but the interpretation of the high and low appears to be the same in both cases.