diff --git a/glib/gvariant.c b/glib/gvariant.c
index ee24ffc34..cd4c21ced 100644
--- a/glib/gvariant.c
+++ b/glib/gvariant.c
@@ -2226,8 +2226,9 @@ g_variant_print_string (GVariant *value,
 
       if (g_variant_n_children (value))
         {
-          gchar *printed_child;
-          GVariant *element;
+          const GVariantType *base_type;
+          guint i, depth;
+          GVariant *element = NULL;
 
           /* Nested maybes:
            *
@@ -2241,19 +2242,36 @@ g_variant_print_string (GVariant *value,
            * "just" is actually exactly the case where we have a nested
            * Nothing.
            *
-           * Instead of searching for that nested Nothing, we just print
-           * the contained value into a separate string and see if we
-           * end up with "nothing" at the end of it.  If so, we need to
-           * add "just" at our level.
+           * Search for the nested Nothing, to save a lot of recursion if there
+           * are multiple levels of maybes.
            */
-          element = g_variant_get_child_value (value, 0);
-          printed_child = g_variant_print (element, FALSE);
-          g_variant_unref (element);
+          for (depth = 0, base_type = g_variant_get_type (value);
+               g_variant_type_is_maybe (base_type);
+               depth++, base_type = g_variant_type_element (base_type));
 
-          if (g_str_has_suffix (printed_child, "nothing"))
-            g_string_append (string, "just ");
-          g_string_append (string, printed_child);
-          g_free (printed_child);
+          element = g_variant_ref (value);
+          for (i = 0; i < depth && element != NULL; i++)
+            {
+              GVariant *new_element = g_variant_n_children (element) ? g_variant_get_child_value (element, 0) : NULL;
+              g_variant_unref (element);
+              element = g_steal_pointer (&new_element);
+            }
+
+          if (element == NULL)
+            {
+              /* One of the maybes was Nothing, so print out the right number of
+               * justs. */
+              for (; i > 1; i--)
+                g_string_append (string, "just ");
+              g_string_append (string, "nothing");
+            }
+          else
+            {
+              /* There are no Nothings, so print out the child with no prefixes. */
+              g_variant_print_string (element, string, FALSE);
+            }
+
+          g_clear_pointer (&element, g_variant_unref);
         }
       else
         g_string_append (string, "nothing");