diff --git a/django/template/defaulttags.py b/django/template/defaulttags.py
index 1a4e1eda10..18f1b9ab30 100644
--- a/django/template/defaulttags.py
+++ b/django/template/defaulttags.py
@@ -344,6 +344,8 @@ def cycle(parser, token):
 
     elif len(args) == 2:
         name = args[1]
+        if not hasattr(parser, '_namedCycleNodes'):
+            raise TemplateSyntaxError("No named cycles in template: '%s' is not defined" % name)
         if not parser._namedCycleNodes.has_key(name):
             raise TemplateSyntaxError("Named cycle '%s' does not exist" % name)
         return parser._namedCycleNodes[name]
diff --git a/tests/othertests/templates.py b/tests/othertests/templates.py
index 122c1ed965..48da3441f3 100644
--- a/tests/othertests/templates.py
+++ b/tests/othertests/templates.py
@@ -317,8 +317,8 @@ TEMPLATE_TESTS = {
     ### I18N ##################################################################
 
     # {% spaceless %} tag
-    'spaceless01': ("{% spaceless %} <b> <i> text </i> </b> {% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b><i> text </i></b>"),
-    'spaceless02': ("{% spaceless %} <b> \n <i> text </i> \n </b> {% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b><i> text </i></b>"),
+    'spaceless01': ("{% spaceless %} <b>    <i> text </i>    </b> {% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b> <i> text </i> </b>"),
+    'spaceless02': ("{% spaceless %} <b> \n <i> text </i> \n </b> {% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b> <i> text </i> </b>"),
     'spaceless03': ("{% spaceless %}<b><i>text</i></b>{% endspaceless %}", {}, "<b><i>text</i></b>"),
 
     # simple translation of a string delimited by '