diff --git a/Source/NSXMLDocument.m b/Source/NSXMLDocument.m
index c4035f8c8..d921b882d 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLDocument.m
+++ b/Source/NSXMLDocument.m
@@ -351,7 +351,7 @@ GS_PRIVATE_INTERNAL(NSXMLDocument)
 
   if (buf != 0 && length > 0)
     {
-      string = UTF8StrLen(buf, length);
+      string = StringFromXMLString(buf, length);
       free(buf);
     }
   return string;
diff --git a/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h b/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h
index f7aec287c..b431a428e 100644
--- a/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h
+++ b/Source/NSXMLPrivate.h
@@ -39,9 +39,20 @@
  */
 #define	XMLSTRING(X)	((const unsigned char*)[X UTF8String])
 
+inline static NSString*
+StringFromXMLString(const unsigned char *bytes, unsigned length)
+{
+  NSString	*str;
+
+  str = [[NSString alloc] initWithBytes: bytes
+				       length: length
+				     encoding: NSUTF8StringEncoding];
+  return AUTORELEASE(str);
+}
 
 #define MY_DOC	((xmlDoc *)internal->node)
 
+
 /* Instance variables for NSXMLNode.  This macro needs to be defined before
  * the NSXMLNode.h header is imported and before GSInternal.h is imported.
  *