diff --git a/hy_odoo/xml_base.hy b/hy_odoo/xml_base.hy
index e4bc641..ce52eaf 100644
--- a/hy_odoo/xml_base.hy
+++ b/hy_odoo/xml_base.hy
@@ -42,8 +42,10 @@
   (cond [(string? children) (setv (. parent text) children)]
         [(instance? XMLDictElement children
           (do
-            (setv attrs (dfor [k v] (.items (. children attrs)) [(unicode k) (unicode v)])
-                  new-parent (.SubElement ET parent (. children tag) attrs)
+            (if-python2
+              (setv attrs (dfor [k v] (.items (. children attrs)) [(unicode k) (unicode v)]))
+              (setv attrs (dfor [k v] (.items (. children attrs)) [(str k) (str v)])))
+            (setv new-parent (.SubElement ET parent (. children tag) attrs)
                   subchildren (.children children))
             (when subchildren) (xmlchild new-parent subchildren)))]
         [(instance? list children) (list( map (partial xmlchild parent) children))]
@@ -52,8 +54,9 @@
 (defn xmln [&optional [tag ""] [attrs {}] [children []]]
   "XMLDictElement building from dict object, with defaults"
   (when (instance? list attrs) (setv children attrs attrs {}))
-  (setv xmldictel (partial XMLDictElement tag attrs))
-  (when (instance? unicode children) (return (xmldictel [children])))
+  (setv xmldictel (partial XMLDictElement tag attrs)
+        inst-str? (if-python2 (instance? unicode children) (instance? str children)))
+  (when inst-str? (return (xmldictel [children])))
   (when (instance? list children) (return (xmldictel children)))
   (raise (TypeError "Invalid arguments for xmln")))