diff --git a/ext/psych/psych_parser.c b/ext/psych/psych_parser.c
index 8eb2205848..6e58611c3c 100644
--- a/ext/psych/psych_parser.c
+++ b/ext/psych/psych_parser.c
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 #include <psych.h>
 
 VALUE cPsychParser;
-VALUE ePsychSyntaxError;
 
 static ID id_read;
 static ID id_path;
@@ -85,6 +84,8 @@ static VALUE make_exception(yaml_parser_t * parser, VALUE path)
     line = parser->context_mark.line + 1;
     column = parser->context_mark.column + 1;
 
+    VALUE ePsychSyntaxError = rb_const_get(mPsych, rb_intern("SyntaxError"));
+
     return rb_funcall(ePsychSyntaxError, rb_intern("new"), 6,
 	    path,
 	    INT2NUM(line),
@@ -569,7 +570,6 @@ void Init_psych_parser(void)
     rb_define_const(cPsychParser, "UTF16BE", INT2NUM(YAML_UTF16BE_ENCODING));
 
     rb_require("psych/syntax_error");
-    ePsychSyntaxError = rb_const_get(mPsych, rb_intern("SyntaxError"));
 
     rb_define_method(cPsychParser, "parse", parse, -1);
     rb_define_method(cPsychParser, "mark", mark, 0);