diff --git a/swift/common/middleware/symlink.py b/swift/common/middleware/symlink.py
index 4e131de452..d2c6444386 100644
--- a/swift/common/middleware/symlink.py
+++ b/swift/common/middleware/symlink.py
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ from swift.common.request_helpers import get_sys_meta_prefix, \
     update_ignore_range_header
 from swift.common.swob import Request, HTTPBadRequest, HTTPTemporaryRedirect, \
     HTTPException, HTTPConflict, HTTPPreconditionFailed, wsgi_quote, \
-    wsgi_unquote, status_map
+    wsgi_unquote, status_map, normalize_etag
 from swift.common.http import is_success, HTTP_NOT_FOUND
 from swift.common.exceptions import LinkIterError
 from swift.common.header_key_dict import HeaderKeyDict
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ def _validate_and_prep_request_headers(req):
         raise HTTPBadRequest(
             body='Symlink cannot target itself',
             request=req, content_type='text/plain')
-    etag = req.headers.get(TGT_ETAG_SYMLINK_HDR, None)
+    etag = normalize_etag(req.headers.get(TGT_ETAG_SYMLINK_HDR, None))
     if etag and any(c in etag for c in ';"\\'):
         # See cgi.parse_header for why the above chars are problematic
         raise HTTPBadRequest(
diff --git a/test/functional/test_symlink.py b/test/functional/test_symlink.py
index 0a58faca46..5cd66d510c 100755
--- a/test/functional/test_symlink.py
+++ b/test/functional/test_symlink.py
@@ -1562,7 +1562,7 @@ class TestSymlinkSlo(Base):
                 self.env.container2.name, 'manifest-abcde'),
             'X-Symlink-Target-Etag': slo_etag,
         })
-        self.assert_status(400)  # no quotes allowed!
+        self.assert_status(409)  # quotes OK, but doesn't match
 
         # try the slo etag w/o the quotes
         slo_etag = slo_etag.strip('"')
@@ -1571,7 +1571,7 @@ class TestSymlinkSlo(Base):
                 self.env.container2.name, 'manifest-abcde'),
             'X-Symlink-Target-Etag': slo_etag,
         })
-        self.assert_status(409)  # that just doesn't match
+        self.assert_status(409)  # that still doesn't match
 
     def test_static_link_target_symlink_to_slo_manifest(self):
         # write symlink
diff --git a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_symlink.py b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_symlink.py
index e983bacbf7..01875ba48b 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_symlink.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_symlink.py
@@ -144,6 +144,33 @@ class TestSymlinkMiddleware(TestSymlinkMiddlewareBase):
         self.assertEqual('application/foo',
                          self.app._calls[-1].headers['Content-Type'])
 
+    def test_symlink_simple_put_with_quoted_etag(self):
+        self.app.register('HEAD', '/v1/a/c1/o', swob.HTTPOk, {
+            'Etag': 'tgt-etag', 'Content-Length': 42,
+            'Content-Type': 'application/foo'})
+        self.app.register('PUT', '/v1/a/c/symlink', swob.HTTPCreated, {})
+        req = Request.blank('/v1/a/c/symlink', method='PUT',
+                            headers={
+                                'X-Symlink-Target': 'c1/o',
+                                'X-Symlink-Target-Etag': '"tgt-etag"',
+                            }, body='')
+        status, headers, body = self.call_sym(req)
+        self.assertEqual(status, '201 Created')
+        method, path, hdrs = self.app.calls_with_headers[1]
+        val = hdrs.get('X-Object-Sysmeta-Symlink-Target')
+        self.assertEqual(val, 'c1/o')
+        self.assertNotIn('X-Object-Sysmeta-Symlink-Target-Account', hdrs)
+        val = hdrs.get('X-Object-Sysmeta-Container-Update-Override-Etag')
+        self.assertEqual(val, '%s; symlink_target=c1/o; '
+                         'symlink_target_etag=tgt-etag; '
+                         'symlink_target_bytes=42' % MD5_OF_EMPTY_STRING)
+        self.assertEqual([
+            ('HEAD', '/v1/a/c1/o'),
+            ('PUT', '/v1/a/c/symlink'),
+        ], self.app.calls)
+        self.assertEqual('application/foo',
+                         self.app._calls[-1].headers['Content-Type'])
+
     def test_symlink_simple_put_with_etag_target_missing_content_type(self):
         self.app.register('HEAD', '/v1/a/c1/o', swob.HTTPOk, {
             'Etag': 'tgt-etag', 'Content-Length': 42})
@@ -1094,15 +1121,14 @@ class SymlinkCopyingTestCase(TestSymlinkMiddlewareBase):
                             }, body='')
         status, headers, body = self.call_sym(req)
         self.assertEqual(status, '409 Conflict')
-        # the quoted slo-etag is just straight up invalid
+        # the quoted slo-etag is tolerated, but still doesn't match
         req = Request.blank('/v1/a/c/symlink', method='PUT',
                             headers={
                                 'X-Symlink-Target': 'c1/o',
                                 'X-Symlink-Target-Etag': '"slo-etag"',
                             }, body='')
         status, headers, body = self.call_sym(req)
-        self.assertEqual(status, '400 Bad Request')
-        self.assertEqual(b'Bad X-Symlink-Target-Etag format', body)
+        self.assertEqual(status, '409 Conflict')
 
 
 class SymlinkVersioningTestCase(TestSymlinkMiddlewareBase):