Vera Inber’s poem “Sdayetsya kvartira” about a snail and the would-be tenants of her flat

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