diff --git a/mxml.c b/mxml.c
index 9c85a55..0fc1bdd 100755
--- a/mxml.c
+++ b/mxml.c
@@ -1483,7 +1483,7 @@ PMXML_NODE mxml_parse_buffer(const char *buf, char *error, int error_size)
                   if (!*pv)
                      return read_error(HERE, "Unexpected end of file");
 
-                  if (*pv == '<') {
+                  if (*pv == '<' && *(pv+1) != '/') {
 
                      /* start new subtree */
                      ptree = pnew;