diff --git a/lib/pretty_text.rb b/lib/pretty_text.rb
index 3edbf23a2d1..623adec9cd0 100644
--- a/lib/pretty_text.rb
+++ b/lib/pretty_text.rb
@@ -247,13 +247,9 @@ module PrettyText
     end
 
     def self.get_excerpt(html, length, options)
-
       me = self.new(length,options)
       parser = Nokogiri::HTML::SAX::Parser.new(me)
       begin
-        copy = "<div>"
-        copy << html unless html.nil?
-        copy << "</div>"
         parser.parse(html) unless html.nil?
       rescue DoneException
         # we are done
@@ -302,8 +298,9 @@ module PrettyText
     def characters(string, truncate = true, count_it = true, encode = true)
       return if @in_quote
       encode = encode ? lambda{|s| ERB::Util.html_escape(s)} : lambda {|s| s}
-      if @current_length + string.length > @length && count_it
-        @excerpt << encode.call(string[0..(@length-@current_length)-1]) if truncate
+      if count_it && @current_length + string.length > @length
+        length = [0, @length - @current_length - 1].max
+        @excerpt << encode.call(string[0..length]) if truncate
         @excerpt << "&hellip;"
         @excerpt << "</a>" if @in_a
         raise DoneException.new
@@ -318,4 +315,3 @@ module PrettyText
   end
 
 end
-
diff --git a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
index 37c4430ab49..61662d3e974 100644
--- a/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/components/pretty_text_spec.rb
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ test
 
     it "should truncate stuff properly" do
       PrettyText.excerpt("hello world",5).should == "hello&hellip;"
+      PrettyText.excerpt("<p>hello</p><p>world</p>",6).should == "hello w&hellip;"
     end
 
     it "should insert a space between to Ps" do
@@ -168,6 +169,7 @@ test
     it "should handle nil" do
       PrettyText.excerpt(nil,100).should == ''
     end
+
   end