diff --git a/text/create_test.go b/text/create_test.go
index c08d421..6c6fc3f 100644
--- a/text/create_test.go
+++ b/text/create_test.go
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func testCreate(t test.Tester) {
 		{
 			in: &dto.MetricFamily{
 				Name: proto.String("name"),
-				Help: proto.String("doc string"),
+				Help: proto.String("two-line\n doc  string"),
 				Type: dto.MetricType_COUNTER.Enum(),
 				Metric: []*dto.Metric{
 					&dto.Metric{
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ func testCreate(t test.Tester) {
 					},
 				},
 			},
-			out: `# HELP name doc string
+			out: `# HELP name two-line\n doc  string
 # TYPE name counter
 name{labelname="val1",basename="basevalue"} NaN
 name{labelname="val2",basename="basevalue"} 0.23 1234567890
diff --git a/text/parse.go b/text/parse.go
index f76ec3a..009e39c 100644
--- a/text/parse.go
+++ b/text/parse.go
@@ -422,7 +422,9 @@ func (p *Parser) readingHelp() stateFn {
 	if p.readTokenUntilNewline(); p.err != nil {
 		return nil // Unexpected end of input.
 	}
-	p.currentMF.Help = proto.String(p.currentToken.String())
+	p.currentMF.Help = proto.String(
+		strings.Replace(p.currentToken.String(), `\n`, "\n", -1),
+	)
 	return p.startOfLine
 }
 
diff --git a/text/parse_test.go b/text/parse_test.go
index 2fcb14d..9e176cf 100644
--- a/text/parse_test.go
+++ b/text/parse_test.go
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ no_labels{} 3
 # TYPE name counter
 name{labelname="val1",basename="basevalue"} NaN
 name {labelname="val2",basename="base\"v\\al\nue"} 0.23 1234567890
-# HELP name doc string
+# HELP name two-line\n doc  string
 
  # HELP  name2  	doc string 2
   #    TYPE    name2 gauge
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ name2{ labelname = "val1" }-Inf
 			out: []*dto.MetricFamily{
 				&dto.MetricFamily{
 					Name: proto.String("name"),
-					Help: proto.String("doc string"),
+					Help: proto.String("two-line\n doc  string"),
 					Type: dto.MetricType_COUNTER.Enum(),
 					Metric: []*dto.Metric{
 						&dto.Metric{