diff --git a/django/newforms/fields.py b/django/newforms/fields.py
index 1391bd1b2f..0f082b9ee3 100644
--- a/django/newforms/fields.py
+++ b/django/newforms/fields.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ class Field(object):
         if label is not None:
             label = smart_unicode(label)
         self.required, self.label, self.initial = required, label, initial
-        self.help_text = help_text
+        self.help_text = smart_unicode(help_text or '')
         widget = widget or self.widget
         if isinstance(widget, type):
             widget = widget()
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py
index c53729da46..2e34111b3e 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/forms/tests.py
@@ -2698,6 +2698,13 @@ purposes, though.
 <li>Username: <input type="text" name="username" maxlength="10" /> e.g., user@example.com</li>
 <li>Password: <input type="password" name="password" /><input type="hidden" name="next" value="/" /></li>
 
+Help text can include arbitrary Unicode characters.
+>>> class UserRegistration(Form):
+...    username = CharField(max_length=10, help_text='ŠĐĆŽćžšđ')
+>>> p = UserRegistration(auto_id=False)
+>>> p.as_ul()
+u'<li>Username: <input type="text" name="username" maxlength="10" /> \u0160\u0110\u0106\u017d\u0107\u017e\u0161\u0111</li>'
+
 # Subclassing forms ###########################################################
 
 You can subclass a Form to add fields. The resulting form subclass will have