diff --git a/src/onion/dict.c b/src/onion/dict.c
index 5564afc..bddde86 100644
--- a/src/onion/dict.c
+++ b/src/onion/dict.c
@@ -695,6 +695,26 @@ onion_dict *onion_dict_from_json(const char *data){
 	return ret;
 }
 
+static unsigned int hex4(const char *data)
+{
+	unsigned int retval = 0, bit = 16;
+	do {
+		unsigned int digit;
+		if (*data >= '0' && *data <= '9')
+			digit = *data - '0';
+		else if (*data >= 'A' && *data <= 'F')
+			digit = *data - ('A' - 10);
+		else if (*data >= 'a' && *data <= 'f')
+			digit = *data - ('a' - 10);
+		else
+			return 0;
+		data++;
+		bit -= 4;
+		retval |= digit << bit;
+	} while (bit);
+	return retval;
+}
+
 onion_dict *onion_dict_from_json_(const char **_data){
 	const char *data=*_data;
 	ONION_DEBUG("Parse %s", *_data);
@@ -759,6 +779,65 @@ onion_dict *onion_dict_from_json_(const char **_data){
 		else if (*data=='"'){
 			++data;
 			while (*data!='"'){
+				if (*data=='\\'){
+					char c=*++data;
+					switch (c){
+					case 'b':
+						c='\b';
+						break;
+					case 'f':
+						c='\f';
+						break;
+					case 'n':
+						c='\n';
+						break;
+					case 'r':
+						c='\r';
+						break;
+					case 't':
+						c='\t';
+						break;
+					case 'u':
+						{
+							unsigned int uc, uc2, n, mark, mask;
+							uc=hex4(data+1);
+							if (!uc||(uc>=0xdc00&&uc<=0xdfff)){
+bad_utf16:
+								ONION_DEBUG("Expected a valid non-NUL UTF-16 char in hex, got something else");
+								goto error;
+							}
+							data+=5;
+							if (uc>=0xd800&&uc<=0xdbff) {
+								if (data[0]!='\\'||data[1]!='u')
+									goto bad_utf16;
+								uc2=hex4(data+2);
+								if (uc2<0xdc00||uc2>0xdfff)
+									goto bad_utf16;
+								data+=6;
+								uc=((uc-0xd7c0)<<10)|(uc2&0x3ff);
+							}
+							if (uc<0x80) {n=1; mark=0;}
+							else if (uc<0x800) {n=2; mark=0xc0;}
+							else if (uc<0x10000) {n=3; mark=0xe0;}
+							else {n=4; mark=0xf0;}
+							mask=0xff;
+							do {
+								onion_block_add_char(value, ((uc>>(6*--n))|mark)&mask);
+								mark=0x80; mask=0xbf;
+							} while (n);
+							continue;
+						}
+/*
+ * Also valid: '"', '\\', '/' (don't need special handling).
+ * Other characters not valid, but are left verbatim.
+ */
+					}
+					if (*data){
+						onion_block_add_char(value, c);
+						++data;
+						continue;
+					}
+				}
 				if (!*data){ // \0
 					ONION_DEBUG("Expected \" got eof");
 					goto error;