diff --git a/cake/libs/view/helpers/html.php b/cake/libs/view/helpers/html.php
index 730889924..32c027690 100644
--- a/cake/libs/view/helpers/html.php
+++ b/cake/libs/view/helpers/html.php
@@ -525,6 +525,9 @@ class HtmlHelper extends AppHelper {
 		if ($escape) {
 			$text = h($text);
 		}
+		if (!is_array($attributes)) {
+		  $attributes = array('class' => $attributes);
+		}
 		if ($text === null) {
 			$tag = 'tagstart';
 		} else {
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/libs/view/helpers/html.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/libs/view/helpers/html.test.php
index fd12cc522..974d2a289 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/libs/view/helpers/html.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/libs/view/helpers/html.test.php
@@ -651,6 +651,9 @@ class HtmlHelperTest extends CakeTestCase {
 
 		$result = $this->Html->tag('div', '<text>', array('class' => 'class-name'), true);
 		$this->assertTags($result, array('div' => array('class' => 'class-name'), '&lt;text&gt;', '/div'));
+		
+		$result = $this->Html->tag('div', '<text>', 'class-name', true);
+		$this->assertTags($result, array('div' => array('class' => 'class-name'), '&lt;text&gt;', '/div'));
     }
 
 	function testDiv() {