diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 37f512d..a3b66ff 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -14,13 +14,11 @@ From there it's a simple thing to parse a string:
 
 Or to search a string for some pattern:
 
->>> search('Age: {:d}
-', 'Name: Rufus
-Age: 42
-Color: red
-')
+>>> search('Age: {:d}\n', 'Name: Rufus\nAge: 42\nColor: red\n')
 <Result (42,) {}>
 
+.. please excuse the double-backslash in that example; it's a ReST work-around
+
 Or find all the occurrances of some pattern in a string:
 
 >>> ''.join(r.fixed[0] for r in findall(">{}<", "<p>some <b>bold</b> text</p>")
diff --git a/parse.py b/parse.py
index 3faf77b..98c8415 100644
--- a/parse.py
+++ b/parse.py
@@ -14,9 +14,11 @@ From there it's a simple thing to parse a string:
 
 Or to search a string for some pattern:
 
->>> search('Age: {:d}\n', 'Name: Rufus\nAge: 42\nColor: red\n')
+>>> search('Age: {:d}\\n', 'Name: Rufus\\nAge: 42\\nColor: red\\n')
 <Result (42,) {}>
 
+.. please excuse the double-backslash in that example; it's an ReST work-around
+
 Or find all the occurrances of some pattern in a string:
 
 >>> ''.join(r.fixed[0] for r in findall(">{}<", "<p>some <b>bold</b> text</p>")