@@ -12,18 +12,20 @@
     my $after  = substr $text, $pos;
 
     my $parent = $text->parentNode;
-    $parent->insertBefore('XML::LibXML::Text'->new($before), $text);
+    my $preceding
+        = $parent->insertBefore('XML::LibXML::Text'->new($before), $text);
     $parent->insertAfter('XML::LibXML::Text'->new($after), $text);
     my $tag = 'XML::LibXML::Element'->new($tag_name);
     $parent->replaceChild($tag, $text);
     $tag->{query} = $query;
+    return $preceding
 }
 
 my $xml = "<foo>The quick br<bar>o</bar>wn <baz>f<bar>o</bar>x</baz>";
 $xml .= " jumps over the lazy d<bar>o</bar>g.</foo>";
 
 my $new_element = "canid";
-my @queried = ("lazy dog", "quick brown fox",);
+my @queried = ("lazy dog", "quick brown fox", "the");
 
 my $dom = 'XML::LibXML'->load_xml(string => $xml);
 
@@ -48,8 +50,10 @@
         my $subtext_length = sum(map length, @texts[ $from .. $to ]);
         my $last_pos = length($texts[$to]) - ($subtext_length - $found - length $query);
 
-        insert_tag($texts[$to], $last_pos, 'end', $query);
-        insert_tag($texts[$from], $found, 'start', $query);
+        my $preceding = insert_tag($texts[$to], $last_pos, 'end', $query);
+
+        my $start_text = $from == $to ? $preceding : $texts[$from];
+        insert_tag($start_text, $found, 'start', $query);
 
         last OUTER;
     }