diff --git a/lib/events.js b/lib/events.js
index 4cfa740765..dd4fdf64e7 100644
--- a/lib/events.js
+++ b/lib/events.js
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ EventEmitter.prototype.emit = function(type) {
     }
   }
 
+  if (!this._events)
+    this._events = {};
+
   handler = this._events[type];
 
   if (typeof handler === 'undefined')
diff --git a/test/simple/test-event-emitter-subclass.js b/test/simple/test-event-emitter-subclass.js
index a71a7c73c4..537b682088 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-event-emitter-subclass.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-event-emitter-subclass.js
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ var util = require('util');
 util.inherits(MyEE, EventEmitter);
 
 function MyEE(cb) {
+  this.emit('bar');
   this.on('foo', cb);
   process.nextTick(this.emit.bind(this, 'foo'));
   EventEmitter.call(this);