With his home on his back, a snail crawls about,
Beavers build dams to keep warm,
The otter lives in a tree-root “holt,”
The long-legged hare has a “form.”
A “sett” is the name of the sky badger’s hole,
And a fox is at home in an “earth,”
Ants live in a hill, and so does a mole,
They burrow for all they are worth.
A hive makes a house for many a bee,
In a mountainous cave sleeps the bear,
High up in the twigs, monkeys rest in a tree,
In an old hollow trunk, a wolf has its lair.
The birds and the beasts have to find good homes,
The “nest,” the “earth” and the “lair,”
They dig and they build, so when bad weather comes,
They can bring up their babies with care.