This is an old favorite of mine from Burl Ives "Little White Duck."
Just yesterday I was listening to Mike, Peggy and Penny Seeger's album "American Folk Songs for Christmas" and I heard the "Every little soul must shine" refrain on a completely different song "Great Big Stars." I see that Ruth Crawford Seeger has the Mr. Rabbit song in her book American Folk Songs for animals from a post here, and wondering if there is an explanation for the refrain duplication?

Diana