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# Vera Inber’s poem “Sdayetsya kvartira” about a snail and the would-be tenants of her flat
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/odnazhdy-dala-obiavlene-ulitka-sdaetsia-kvartira-s-otdelnoi-kalitkoi/
- Published: 2024-06-28T08:04:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:44:48.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Books, Humour

Once a Snail put out  
An advert:  
"To let: flat with a gate  
Of its own.  
Peace, quiet. Kitchen garden  
And garage.  
Water. Lighting.  
Ground floor."  
Scarcely had the notice  
Appeared in the wood  
When at once there began  
A stir all around.  
Many answered.  
From his lookout tower,  
In his working clothes,  
The ant came down.  
Smartly dressed, in feathers, there appeared  
The cuckoo.  
The amphibian (that is a sort of  
Frog)  
Came with a tadpole  
(A nimble little fellow!),  
Then there flew in  
The bat.  
And then the glow-worm,  
The hour already not an early one,  
Crawled to this gathering  
Of would-be tenants,  
And even brought along, so as not to lose his way  
In the night,  
A green little lamp of a quarter  
Candle-power.  
They sat down in a circle. In the middle  
The Snail.  
And here a real  
Torture began!  
That, they said, there is only  
One room.  
And how can that be:  
Why is there no window?  
"And where is the water?"  
The frog was surprised.  
"And where is the nursery?"  
Asked the cuckoo.  
"And where is the lighting?"  
The glow-worm flared up.  
"I go walking at night,  
I need a beacon."  
The bat  
Shook her little head:  
"I need an attic,  
On the ground I feel awkward."  
"We need a cellar,"  
The ant objected,  
"A cellar or a vault  
With ten doors."  
And each, having returned  
To his own home,  
Thought: "You will not find  
A second one like it!"  
And even the snail,  
Who had begun to feel chilly,  
Exclaimed:  
"How good it is at my place!"  
And only the cuckoo,  
A homeless bird,  
Still keeps knocking  
At other birds' nests.  
She will knock at your door too,  
At your door:  
"I need a flat," she will say!  
But do not believe her.

*Literal translation*

**"Flat to Let". Vera Ibner**