diff --git a/lib/nori.rb b/lib/nori.rb
index ba55215..db3e51f 100644
--- a/lib/nori.rb
+++ b/lib/nori.rb
@@ -15,15 +15,16 @@ def self.hash_key(name, options = {})
 
   def initialize(options = {})
     defaults = {
-      :strip_namespaces              => false,
-      :delete_namespace_attributes   => false,
-      :convert_tags_to               => nil,
-      :convert_attributes_to         => nil,
-      :empty_tag_value               => nil,
-      :advanced_typecasting          => true,
-      :convert_dashes_to_underscores => true,
-      :scrub_xml                     => true,
-      :parser                        => :nokogiri
+      :strip_namespaces               => false,
+      :delete_namespace_attributes    => false,
+      :convert_tags_to                => nil,
+      :convert_attributes_to          => nil,
+      :empty_tag_value                => nil,
+      :advanced_typecasting           => true,
+      :convert_dashes_to_underscores  => true,
+      :scrub_xml                      => true,
+      :parser                         => :nokogiri,
+      :string_with_attributes_as_hash => false,
     }
 
     validate_options! defaults.keys, options.keys
diff --git a/lib/nori/xml_utility_node.rb b/lib/nori/xml_utility_node.rb
index 63d74a4..c471025 100644
--- a/lib/nori/xml_utility_node.rb
+++ b/lib/nori/xml_utility_node.rb
@@ -140,8 +140,12 @@ def to_hash
         t = advanced_typecasting(t) if t.is_a?(String) && @options[:advanced_typecasting]
 
         if t.is_a?(String)
-          t = StringWithAttributes.new(t)
-          t.attributes = attributes
+          if @options[:string_with_attributes_as_hash] && attributes.any?
+            t = { '#text' => t }.merge(attributes.transform_keys { |k| "@#{k}" })
+          else
+            t = StringWithAttributes.new(t)
+            t.attributes = attributes
+          end
         end
 
         return { name => t }
diff --git a/spec/nori/nori_spec.rb b/spec/nori/nori_spec.rb
index e673722..1db3ea4 100644
--- a/spec/nori/nori_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/nori/nori_spec.rb
@@ -231,6 +231,20 @@
           expect("some-string").not_to respond_to(:attributes)
           expect("some-string").not_to respond_to(:attributes=)
         end
+
+        it "returns hash with :string_with_attributes_as_hash option" do
+          xml =<<-XML
+            <opt>
+              <test attr="value" attr1="value1">Text</test>
+              <user login="grep">Gary R Epstein</user>
+              <user>Simon T Tyson</user>
+            </opt>
+          XML
+          @data = parse(xml, { string_with_attributes_as_hash: true })
+          expect(@data['opt']['test']).to eq({ '#text' => 'Text', '@attr' => 'value', '@attr1' => 'value1' })
+          expect(@data['opt']['user'][0]).to eq({ '#text' => 'Gary R Epstein', '@login' => 'grep' })
+          expect(@data['opt']['user'][1]).to eq('Simon T Tyson')
+        end
       end
 
       it "should typecast an integer" do