diff -ur cl-emb-0.4.4/emb.lisp cl-emb-0.4.4-my/emb.lisp
--- cl-emb-0.4.4/emb.lisp	2008-06-10 23:25:27.000000000 +0400
+++ cl-emb-0.4.4-my/emb.lisp	2009-10-30 11:15:24.000000000 +0300
@@ -268,7 +268,11 @@
 (defun echo (string &key (escape *escape-type*))
   "Emit given STRING. Escape if wanted (global or via ESCAPE keyword).
 STRING can be NIL."
-  (let ((str (or string "")))
+  (let ((str (cond 
+              ((stringp string) string)
+              ((null string) string)
+              (t (format nil "~a" string))
+              )))
     (case escape 
       ((:html :xml)
        (escape-for-xml str))
