diff --git a/tests/test-pathencode.py b/tests/test-pathencode.py
--- a/tests/test-pathencode.py
+++ b/tests/test-pathencode.py
@@ -125,7 +125,8 @@ def makepart(rng, k):
     p = pickfrom(rng, firsttable)(rng)
     l = len(p)
     ps = [p]
-    while l < k:
+    maxl = rng.randint(1, k)
+    while l < maxl:
         p = pickfrom(rng, resttable)(rng)
         l += len(p)
         ps.append(p)