Gavin Bishop's The house that Jack built (1999) is a retelling of the well-known children's rhyme with a colonial New Zealand twist. In it, Jack Bull arrives in New Zealand in 1798 and sets up a trading business, swapping English-made goods, including muskets, for food with Māori. In the early years Māori are dominant and Māori gods hold sway, but as time passes and more and more Pākehā immigrants settle in New Zealand. The Māori gods weaken and conflict between Māori and Pākehā ensues.
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