diff --git a/index-test.js b/index-test.js
index fe35497bd..593ddd33a 100644
--- a/index-test.js
+++ b/index-test.js
@@ -199,4 +199,22 @@ describe(`reactElementToJSXString(ReactElement)`, () => {
       reactElementToJSXString(<div a={{}} />)
     ).toEqual(`<div a={{}} />`);
   });
+
+  it(`reactElementToJSXString(<div><span /><span /></div>)`, () => {
+    expect(
+      reactElementToJSXString(<div><span /><span /></div>)
+    ).toEqual(`<div>
+  <span />
+  <span />
+</div>`);
+  });
+
+  it(`reactElementToJSXString(<div>foo<div /></div>)`, () => {
+    expect(
+      reactElementToJSXString(<div>foo<div /></div>)
+    ).toEqual(`<div>
+  foo
+  <div />
+</div>`);
+  });
 });
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index d1f0eb2e1..48755e3c7 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -11,8 +11,11 @@ export default function reactElementToJSXString(ReactElement) {
 }
 
 function toJSXString({ReactElement = null, lvl = 0, inline = false}) {
-  if (!isElement(ReactElement)) {
-    throw new Error('react-element-to-jsx-string: Expected a ReactElement');
+  if (typeof ReactElement === 'string') {
+    return ReactElement;
+  } else if (!isElement(ReactElement)) {
+    throw new Error('react-element-to-jsx-string: Expected a ReactElement, ' +
+      'got `' + (typeof ReactElement) + '`');
   }
 
   let tagName;
@@ -58,7 +61,7 @@ function toJSXString({ReactElement = null, lvl = 0, inline = false}) {
         .toArray(children)
         .map(
           recurse({lvl, inline})
-        );
+        ).join('\n' + spacer(lvl));
     }
     if (!inline) {
       out += `\n`;