diff --git a/gtk/gtkwidget.c b/gtk/gtkwidget.c
index 0202617598..f02b481867 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkwidget.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkwidget.c
@@ -2794,8 +2794,7 @@ gtk_widget_get_property (GObject         *object,
         if (escaped && !pango_parse_markup (escaped, -1, 0, NULL, &text, NULL, NULL))
           g_assert (NULL == text); /* text should still be NULL in case of markup errors */
 
-        g_value_set_string (value, text);
-        g_free (text);
+        g_value_take_string (value, text);
       }
       break;
     case PROP_TOOLTIP_MARKUP: