diff --git a/fugue_dask/execution_engine.py b/fugue_dask/execution_engine.py
index 7dd0bae0..f1838a71 100644
--- a/fugue_dask/execution_engine.py
+++ b/fugue_dask/execution_engine.py
@@ -506,6 +506,17 @@ def _partition_take(partition, n, presort):
                 ).head(n)
 
         else:
+            if len(_presort.keys()) == 0 and n == 1:
+                return DaskDataFrame(
+                    d.drop_duplicates(
+                        subset=partition_spec.partition_by,
+                        ignore_index=True,
+                        keep="first",
+                    ),
+                    df.schema,
+                    type_safe=False,
+                )
+
             d = (
                 d.groupby(partition_spec.partition_by, dropna=False)
                 .apply(_partition_take, n=n, presort=_presort, meta=meta)
diff --git a/fugue_spark/execution_engine.py b/fugue_spark/execution_engine.py
index 4d8b3b23..51d5c69c 100644
--- a/fugue_spark/execution_engine.py
+++ b/fugue_spark/execution_engine.py
@@ -674,6 +674,11 @@ def _presort_to_col(_col: str, _asc: bool) -> Any:
 
         # If partition exists
         else:
+            if len(_presort.keys()) == 0 and n == 1:
+                return self._to_spark_df(
+                    d.dropDuplicates(subset=partition_spec.partition_by), df.schema
+                )
+
             w = Window.partitionBy([col(x) for x in partition_spec.partition_by])
 
             if len(_presort.keys()) > 0:
diff --git a/fugue_test/execution_suite.py b/fugue_test/execution_suite.py
index f95ee9ed..a05e0d24 100644
--- a/fugue_test/execution_suite.py
+++ b/fugue_test/execution_suite.py
@@ -813,6 +813,46 @@ def test_take(self):
                 "a:str,b:int,c:long",
                 throw=True,
             )
+            a = fa.as_fugue_engine_df(
+                e,
+                [
+                    ["a", 2, 3],
+                    [None, 4, 2],
+                    [None, 2, 1],
+                ],
+                "a:str,b:int,c:long",
+            )
+            i = fa.take(a, n=1, partition="a", presort=None)
+            case1 = df_eq(
+                i,
+                [
+                    ["a", 2, 3],
+                    [None, 4, 2],
+                ],
+                "a:str,b:int,c:long",
+                throw=False,
+            )
+            case2 = df_eq(
+                i,
+                [
+                    ["a", 2, 3],
+                    [None, 2, 1],
+                ],
+                "a:str,b:int,c:long",
+                throw=False,
+            )
+            assert case1 or case2
+            j = fa.take(a, n=2, partition="a", presort=None)
+            df_eq(
+                j,
+                [
+                    ["a", 2, 3],
+                    [None, 4, 2],
+                    [None, 2, 1],
+                ],
+                "a:str,b:int,c:long",
+                throw=True,
+            )
             raises(ValueError, lambda: fa.take(a, n=0.5, presort=None))
 
         def test_sample_n(self):