diff --git a/src/message.c b/src/message.c
index a7aca2b..d6acb09 100644
--- a/src/message.c
+++ b/src/message.c
@@ -2627,12 +2627,19 @@
 
     if (*p != NUL && !(silent_mode && p_verbose == 0))
     {
+	int c = -1;
+
 	if (maxlen > 0 && STRLEN(p) > (size_t)maxlen)
+	{
+	    c = p[maxlen];
 	    p[maxlen] = 0;
+	}
 	if (info_message)
 	    mch_msg((char *)p);
 	else
 	    mch_errmsg((char *)p);
+	if (c != -1)
+	    p[maxlen] = c;
     }
 
     msg_didout = TRUE;	    // assume that line is not empty
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_startup.vim b/src/testdir/test_startup.vim
index 16b202f..b7dd7ea 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_startup.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_startup.vim
@@ -537,3 +537,13 @@
   endif
   call delete('Xtestout')
 endfunc
+
+func Test_issue_3969()
+  if has('gui_running')
+    " Can't catch the output of gvim.
+    return
+  endif
+  " Check that message is not truncated.
+  let out = system(GetVimCommand() . ' -es -X -V1 -c "echon ''hello''" -cq')
+  call assert_equal('hello', out)
+endfunc
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 13f54e3..cd45fa0 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -780,6 +780,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    969,
+/**/
     968,
 /**/
     967,