diff --git a/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/__init__.py b/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/__init__.py
index 6603cbb..d93fe4e 100644
--- a/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/__init__.py
+++ b/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/__init__.py
@@ -1,60 +1,14 @@
+"""
 
-class ToString(object):
-	def __str__(self, xml=None, xmlns='', stringbuffer=''):
-		if xml is None:
-			xml = self.xml
-		newoutput = [stringbuffer]
-		#TODO respect ET mapped namespaces
-		itag = xml.tag.split('}', 1)[-1]
-		if '}' in xml.tag:
-			ixmlns = xml.tag.split('}', 1)[0][1:]
-		else:
-			ixmlns = ''
-		nsbuffer = ''
-		if xmlns != ixmlns and ixmlns != '' and ixmlns != self.namespace:
-			if self.stream is not None and ixmlns in self.stream.namespace_map:
-				if self.stream.namespace_map[ixmlns] != '':
-					itag = "%s:%s" % (self.stream.namespace_map[ixmlns], itag)
-			else:
-				nsbuffer = """ xmlns="%s\"""" % ixmlns
-		if ixmlns not in ('', xmlns, self.namespace):
-			nsbuffer = """ xmlns="%s\"""" % ixmlns
-		newoutput.append("<%s" % itag)
-		newoutput.append(nsbuffer)
-		for attrib in xml.attrib:
-			if '{' not in attrib:
-				newoutput.append(""" %s="%s\"""" % (attrib, self.xmlesc(xml.attrib[attrib])))
-		if len(xml) or xml.text or xml.tail:
-			newoutput.append(">")
-			if xml.text:
-				newoutput.append(self.xmlesc(xml.text))
-			if len(xml):
-				for child in xml.getchildren():
-					newoutput.append(self.__str__(child, ixmlns))
-			newoutput.append("</%s>" % (itag, ))
-			if xml.tail:
-				newoutput.append(self.xmlesc(xml.tail))
-		elif xml.text:
-			newoutput.append(">%s</%s>" % (self.xmlesc(xml.text), itag))
-		else:
-			newoutput.append(" />")
-		return ''.join(newoutput)
+"""
 
-	def xmlesc(self, text):
-		text = list(text)
-		cc = 0
-		matches = ('&', '<', '"', '>', "'")
-		for c in text:
-			if c in matches:
-				if c == '&':
-					text[cc] = '&amp;'
-				elif c == '<':
-					text[cc] = '&lt;'
-				elif c == '>':
-					text[cc] = '&gt;'
-				elif c == "'":
-					text[cc] = '&apos;'
-				else:
-					text[cc] = '&quot;'
-			cc += 1
-		return ''.join(text)
+import sys
+
+
+# Import the correct ToString class based on the Python version.
+if sys.version_info < (3, 0):
+    from sleekxmpp.xmlstream.tostring.tostring26 import ToString
+else:
+    from sleekxmpp.xmlstream.tostring.tostring import ToString
+
+__all__ = ['ToString']
diff --git a/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/tostring.py b/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/tostring.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6603cbb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/tostring.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+
+class ToString(object):
+	def __str__(self, xml=None, xmlns='', stringbuffer=''):
+		if xml is None:
+			xml = self.xml
+		newoutput = [stringbuffer]
+		#TODO respect ET mapped namespaces
+		itag = xml.tag.split('}', 1)[-1]
+		if '}' in xml.tag:
+			ixmlns = xml.tag.split('}', 1)[0][1:]
+		else:
+			ixmlns = ''
+		nsbuffer = ''
+		if xmlns != ixmlns and ixmlns != '' and ixmlns != self.namespace:
+			if self.stream is not None and ixmlns in self.stream.namespace_map:
+				if self.stream.namespace_map[ixmlns] != '':
+					itag = "%s:%s" % (self.stream.namespace_map[ixmlns], itag)
+			else:
+				nsbuffer = """ xmlns="%s\"""" % ixmlns
+		if ixmlns not in ('', xmlns, self.namespace):
+			nsbuffer = """ xmlns="%s\"""" % ixmlns
+		newoutput.append("<%s" % itag)
+		newoutput.append(nsbuffer)
+		for attrib in xml.attrib:
+			if '{' not in attrib:
+				newoutput.append(""" %s="%s\"""" % (attrib, self.xmlesc(xml.attrib[attrib])))
+		if len(xml) or xml.text or xml.tail:
+			newoutput.append(">")
+			if xml.text:
+				newoutput.append(self.xmlesc(xml.text))
+			if len(xml):
+				for child in xml.getchildren():
+					newoutput.append(self.__str__(child, ixmlns))
+			newoutput.append("</%s>" % (itag, ))
+			if xml.tail:
+				newoutput.append(self.xmlesc(xml.tail))
+		elif xml.text:
+			newoutput.append(">%s</%s>" % (self.xmlesc(xml.text), itag))
+		else:
+			newoutput.append(" />")
+		return ''.join(newoutput)
+
+	def xmlesc(self, text):
+		text = list(text)
+		cc = 0
+		matches = ('&', '<', '"', '>', "'")
+		for c in text:
+			if c in matches:
+				if c == '&':
+					text[cc] = '&amp;'
+				elif c == '<':
+					text[cc] = '&lt;'
+				elif c == '>':
+					text[cc] = '&gt;'
+				elif c == "'":
+					text[cc] = '&apos;'
+				else:
+					text[cc] = '&quot;'
+			cc += 1
+		return ''.join(text)
diff --git a/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/tostring26.py b/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/tostring26.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9711c30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sleekxmpp/xmlstream/tostring/tostring26.py
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import types
+
+class ToString(object):
+	def __str__(self, xml=None, xmlns='', stringbuffer=''):
+		if xml is None:
+			xml = self.xml
+		newoutput = [stringbuffer]
+		#TODO respect ET mapped namespaces
+		itag = xml.tag.split('}', 1)[-1]
+		if '}' in xml.tag:
+			ixmlns = xml.tag.split('}', 1)[0][1:]
+		else:
+			ixmlns = ''
+		nsbuffer = ''
+		if xmlns != ixmlns and ixmlns != u'' and ixmlns != self.namespace:
+			if self.stream is not None and ixmlns in self.stream.namespace_map:
+				if self.stream.namespace_map[ixmlns] != u'':
+					itag = "%s:%s" % (self.stream.namespace_map[ixmlns], itag)
+			else:
+				nsbuffer = """ xmlns="%s\"""" % ixmlns
+		if ixmlns not in ('', xmlns, self.namespace):
+			nsbuffer = """ xmlns="%s\"""" % ixmlns
+		newoutput.append("<%s" % itag)
+		newoutput.append(nsbuffer)
+		for attrib in xml.attrib:
+			if '{' not in attrib:
+				newoutput.append(""" %s="%s\"""" % (attrib, self.xmlesc(xml.attrib[attrib])))
+		if len(xml) or xml.text or xml.tail:
+			newoutput.append(u">")
+			if xml.text:
+				newoutput.append(self.xmlesc(xml.text))
+			if len(xml):
+				for child in xml.getchildren():
+					newoutput.append(self.__str__(child, ixmlns))
+			newoutput.append(u"</%s>" % (itag, ))
+			if xml.tail:
+				newoutput.append(self.xmlesc(xml.tail))
+		elif xml.text:
+			newoutput.append(">%s</%s>" % (self.xmlesc(xml.text), itag))
+		else:
+			newoutput.append(" />")
+		return u''.join(newoutput)
+
+	def xmlesc(self, text):
+		if type(text) != types.UnicodeType:
+			text = list(unicode(text, 'utf-8', 'ignore'))
+		else:
+			text = list(text)
+
+		cc = 0
+		matches = (u'&', u'<', u'"', u'>', u"'")
+		for c in text:
+			if c in matches:
+				if c == u'&':
+					text[cc] = u'&amp;'
+				elif c == u'<':
+					text[cc] = u'&lt;'
+				elif c == u'>':
+					text[cc] = u'&gt;'
+				elif c == u"'":
+					text[cc] = u'&apos;'
+				else:
+					text[cc] = u'&quot;'
+			cc += 1
+		return ''.join(text)