The People Before

The narrator describes his childhood growing up on a dairy farm in rural New Zealand with his father, mother, and younger brother, Jim. His father purchased the land—which was previously a failed sheep farm—cheaply after his time spent fighting in the war, and he is proud that he has tamed the wild, scrubby land into order and productivity. The two boys help their father with the cows daily, against their mother’s wishes. Jim, who is weaker and sicklier than the narrator, often spends time with his mother inside the house instead of tending to his barnyard chores, much to the dismay of their father, who resents him for becoming a “softy.” The narrator prefers working outside with his father, and they bond over football and stories of his father’s past—in particular, his father tells him about how he used to use old memories to keep himself distracted or calm during his time in World War I. When the boys are allowed time off, they explore the surrounding hills of their family’s land. The narrator likes to bring his rifle along to hunt rabbits, while quiet and introspective Jim prefers to collect interesting stones. One night, their father examines two of Jim’s stones and identifies them as greenstone left behind by the Māori people. Jim is excited by the suggestion that Māori people used to live on their land, but their father is indifferent, aside from the prospect of the stones bringing money. The boys set out to search for more greenstone but find only a human skull placed on the ledge of a cave.

Soon after, Jim is entirely relieved of his duties on the farm. The family is under financial stress due to the ongoing economic depression, and conditions on the farm are bleak. One day, their mother receives a call from someone claiming to be one of the original inhabitants of the land and expressing that they will be visiting soon. The narrator’s father is confused and doesn’t see why the owners of the failed sheep farm would want to return. However, it is not the owners of the sheep farm that arrive via launch on the river, but a group of Māori people claiming to have once owned the land. The party consists of some young men including Tom Taikaka, two elderly women, and a very old man who was the last of their tribe to be born on the land. Jim offers his greenstone adzes to Tom, but Tom reluctantly declines them, saying he no longer has a claim on them. The Māori people and the narrator’s family exchange some stories and information before the Māori group moves on to spend the night on Craggy Hill, which the farmer’s family has always considered insignificant and unusable for farming.

The next morning, the Māori group returns without the old man, who has passed away in the night and was buried by his companions on the hill. They depart, and the narrator’s family never recovers the body of the old man. When the economy improves, they sell the farm, and the narrator moves with his parents to another farm closer to the city. Jim has become a lecturer at the local university, and both boys now have families. When Jim visits, he and the narrator reminisce on their time in World War II, and the narrator admits that he was never able to use their father’s technique of staying calm in battle by recalling old memories. Jim, however, tells the narrator that he used to distract himself on the battlefield by focusing on their old land. This causes the narrator to feel robbed of a connection he feels should be rightfully his, and he does not think he can forgive Jim for that.