diff --git a/parse.y b/parse.y
index 4c2d032d07..f9acacc0fb 100644
--- a/parse.y
+++ b/parse.y
@@ -3869,10 +3869,10 @@ strings		: string
 			$$ = $1;
 		    %*/
 		    }
-		| tCHAR
 		;
 
-string		: string1
+string		: tCHAR
+		| string1
 		| string string1
 		    {
 		    /*%%%*/
diff --git a/test/ruby/test_literal.rb b/test/ruby/test_literal.rb
index 05b81f944d..28290fb19d 100644
--- a/test/ruby/test_literal.rb
+++ b/test/ruby/test_literal.rb
@@ -90,6 +90,9 @@ class TestRubyLiteral < Test::Unit::TestCase
     assert_equal "\u201c", eval(%[?\\\u{201c}]), bug6069
     assert_equal "\u201c".encode("euc-jp"), eval(%[?\\\u{201c}].encode("euc-jp")), bug6069
     assert_equal "\u201c".encode("iso-8859-13"), eval(%[?\\\u{201c}].encode("iso-8859-13")), bug6069
+
+    assert_equal "ab", eval("?a 'b'")
+    assert_equal "a\nb", eval("<<A 'b'\na\nA")
   end
 
   def test_dstring