diff --git a/common/markup.c b/common/markup.c
index ab703a7ea..6edabe0d0 100644
--- a/common/markup.c
+++ b/common/markup.c
@@ -143,14 +143,11 @@ markup_parse_text(GMarkupParseContext *context __attribute__ ((unused)),
                   GError **error __attribute__ ((unused)))
 {
     markup_parser_data_t *p = (markup_parser_data_t *) user_data;
-    ssize_t len, rlen;
-    char *esctext;
+    ssize_t rlen;
 
-    len = a_strlen(p->text);
-    rlen = len + 1 + text_len;
+    rlen = a_strlen(p->text) + 1 + text_len;
     p_realloc(&p->text, rlen);
-    esctext = g_markup_escape_text(text, text_len);
-    a_strncat(p->text, rlen, esctext, a_strlen(esctext));
+    a_strncat(p->text, rlen, text, text_len);
 }
 
 /** Create a markup_parser_data_t structure with elements list.