diff --git a/Lib/guile/typemaps.i b/Lib/guile/typemaps.i
index 27f14bb56..65b18170d 100644
--- a/Lib/guile/typemaps.i
+++ b/Lib/guile/typemaps.i
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@
  SIMPLE_MAP(double, gh_scm2double, gh_double2scm, real);
  SIMPLE_MAP(char *, GSWIG_scm2str, gh_str02scm, string);
 
+/* GSWIG_scm2str makes a malloc'ed copy of the string, so get rid of it after
+   the function call. */
+
+%typemap (guile, freearg) char * "if ($target) scm_must_free($target);";
+
 /* Void */
 
 %typemap (guile, out) void "gswig_result = GH_UNSPECIFIED;";