diff --git a/include/exceptions.h b/include/exceptions.h
index 784dc05..38e296e 100644
--- a/include/exceptions.h
+++ b/include/exceptions.h
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <exception>
 #include <string>
+#include <sstream>
 
 namespace YAML
 {
@@ -62,6 +63,11 @@ namespace YAML
 		Exception(int line_, int column_, const std::string& msg_)
 			: line(line_), column(column_), msg(msg_) {}
 		virtual ~Exception() throw() {}
+		virtual const char *what() const throw() {
+			std::stringstream output;
+			output << "Error at line " << line+1 << ", column " << column+1 << ": " << msg;
+			return output.str().c_str();
+		}
 
 		int line, column;
 		std::string msg;
diff --git a/util/parse.cpp b/util/parse.cpp
index 1632041..12f4e6c 100644
--- a/util/parse.cpp
+++ b/util/parse.cpp
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 		YAML::Node doc;
 		parser.GetNextDocument(doc);
 	} catch(const YAML::Exception& e) {
-		std::cerr << "Error at line " << e.line << ", col " << e.column << ": " << e.msg << "\n";
+		std::cerr << e.what() << "\n";
 	}
 	return 0;
 }