I remember, once upon a time, of troy's writing about this old song. She identified it as one in the Girls Scouts' songbook. I don't know of its origins. However, I learned it at a Girl Scout camp, Camp Pocohotas, when I was seven years old, pretty near fifty years ago. Although very simple, it can be sung as a round, but not a very interesting one--still, effective. It requires about a hundred scouts sitting around a huge campfire. The song goes round and round the campfire, and there's a mesmerizing quality to it.