diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html
index 2d6912498..13cecbfa3 100644
--- a/docs/index.html
+++ b/docs/index.html
@@ -1442,11 +1442,18 @@ subdirectories.</p>
   <tr>
     <td valign="top">message</td>
     <td valign="top">the message to echo.</td>
-    <td valign="top" align="center">Yes</td>
+    <td valign="top" align="center">Yes, unless data is included in a
+      character section within this element.</td>
   </tr>
 </table>
 <h3>Examples</h3>
 <pre>  &lt;echo message=&quot;Hello world&quot; /&gt;</pre>
+<pre>  
+&lt;echo&gt;
+This is a longer message stretching over
+two lines.
+&lt;/echo&gt;
+</pre>
 <hr>
 <h2><a name="exec">Exec</a></h2>
 <h3>Description</h3>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Echo.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Echo.java
index 6f64b4630..d6b70f974 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Echo.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/Echo.java
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ import java.net.*;
  * @author costin@dnt.ro
  */
 public class Echo extends Task {
-    private String message; // required
+    private String message = ""; // required
     
     /**
      * Does the work.
@@ -82,4 +82,11 @@ public class Echo extends Task {
     public void setMessage(String msg) {
 	this.message = msg;
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Set a multiline message.
+     */
+    public void addText(String msg) {
+        message += msg;
+    }
 }