diff --git a/core/coreapi/unixfs.go b/core/coreapi/unixfs.go
index 53d13a3a497..6146f807a71 100644
--- a/core/coreapi/unixfs.go
+++ b/core/coreapi/unixfs.go
@@ -217,13 +217,13 @@ func (api *UnixfsAPI) Ls(ctx context.Context, p path.Path, opts ...options.Unixf
 }
 
 func (api *UnixfsAPI) processLink(ctx context.Context, linkres ft.LinkResult, settings *options.UnixfsLsSettings) coreiface.DirEntry {
+	if linkres.Err != nil {
+		return coreiface.DirEntry{Err: linkres.Err}
+	}
+
 	lnk := coreiface.DirEntry{
 		Name: linkres.Link.Name,
 		Cid:  linkres.Link.Cid,
-		Err:  linkres.Err,
-	}
-	if lnk.Err != nil {
-		return lnk
 	}
 
 	switch lnk.Cid.Type() {
diff --git a/test/sharness/t0260-sharding.sh b/test/sharness/t0260-sharding.sh
index 20be436c7a3..458eec133e9 100755
--- a/test/sharness/t0260-sharding.sh
+++ b/test/sharness/t0260-sharding.sh
@@ -117,4 +117,24 @@ test_add_large_dir_v1 "$SHARDEDV1"
 
 test_kill_ipfs_daemon
 
+test_list_incomplete_dir() {
+  test_expect_success "ipfs add (CIDv1) on very large directory with sha3 succeeds" '
+    ipfs add -r -q --cid-version=1 --hash=sha3-256 --pin=false testdata | tail -n1 > sharddir_out &&
+    largeSHA3dir=$(cat sharddir_out)
+  '
+
+  test_expect_success "delete intermediate node from DAG" '
+    ipfs block rm "/ipld/$largeSHA3dir/Links/0/Hash"
+  '
+
+  test_expect_success "can list part of the directory" '
+    ipfs ls "$largeSHA3dir" 2> ls_err_out
+    echo "Error: merkledag: not found" > exp_err_out &&
+    cat ls_err_out &&
+    test_cmp exp_err_out ls_err_out
+  '
+}
+
+test_list_incomplete_dir
+
 test_done