diff --git a/src/preserves/private/parsing.nim b/src/preserves/private/parsing.nim
index b5f9799..3472336 100644
--- a/src/preserves/private/parsing.nim
+++ b/src/preserves/private/parsing.nim
@@ -183,7 +183,9 @@ proc parsePreserves*(text: string): Preserve[void] =
       pushStack Value(kind: pkByteString, bytes: cast[seq[byte]](base64.decode(joinWhitespace($1))))
 
     Preserves.Symbol <- Preserves.Symbol:
-      pushStack Value(kind: pkSymbol, symbol: Symbol $1)
+      var buf = newStringOfCap(len($1))
+      unescape(buf, $1)
+      pushStack Value(kind: pkSymbol, symbol: Symbol buf)
 
     Preserves.Embedded <- Preserves.Embedded:
       var v = stack.pop.value