diff --git a/packages/htmljs/tohtml.js b/packages/htmljs/tohtml.js
index 28fc0a9e3c..b238994d9d 100644
--- a/packages/htmljs/tohtml.js
+++ b/packages/htmljs/tohtml.js
@@ -132,6 +132,18 @@ HTML.toText = function (node, textMode, parentComponent) {
 
 };
 
+HTML.Raw.prototype.toText = function () {
+  return this.value;
+};
+
+// used when including templates within {{#markdown}}
+HTML.Tag.prototype.toText = function (textMode) {
+  if (textMode === HTML.TEXTMODE.STRING)
+    return this.toHTML();
+  else
+    throw new Error("Can't insert tags in attributes or TEXTAREA elements");
+};
+
 HTML.CharRef.prototype.toText = function (textMode) {
   if (textMode === HTML.TEXTMODE.STRING)
     return this.str;
diff --git a/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.html b/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.html
index e412ec0d38..a13b336e4d 100644
--- a/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.html
+++ b/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.html
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ some paragraph to fix showdown's four space parsing below.
 </template>
 
 <template name="spacebars_template_test_markdown_inclusion_subtmpl">
-  Nothing in particular
+  <span>Nothing in particular</span>
 </template>
 
 <template name="spacebars_template_test_markdown_block_helpers">
diff --git a/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.js b/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.js
index cfa5540ef2..ad7897b0d5 100644
--- a/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.js
+++ b/packages/spacebars-tests/template_tests.js
@@ -1122,7 +1122,7 @@ Tinytest.add('spacebars - templates - #markdown - each', function (test) {
 Tinytest.add('spacebars - templates - #markdown - inclusion', function (test) {
   var tmpl = Template.spacebars_template_test_markdown_inclusion;
   var div = renderToDiv(tmpl);
-  test.equal(divContentForMarkdown(div), "<p>Nothing in particular</p>");
+  test.equal(divContentForMarkdown(div), "<p><span>Nothing in particular</span></p>");
 });
 
 Tinytest.add('spacebars - templates - #markdown - block helpers', function (test) {