diff --git a/Lib/tkinter/messagebox.py b/Lib/tkinter/messagebox.py
index c9349567f82..5c35d5adbaf 100644
--- a/Lib/tkinter/messagebox.py
+++ b/Lib/tkinter/messagebox.py
@@ -70,11 +70,13 @@ def _show(title=None, message=None, _icon=None, _type=None, **options):
     if title:   options["title"] = title
     if message: options["message"] = message
     res = Message(**options).show()
-    # In some Tcl installations, Tcl converts yes/no into a boolean
+    # In some Tcl installations, yes/no is converted into a boolean.
     if isinstance(res, bool):
-        if res: return YES
+        if res:
+            return YES
         return NO
-    return res
+    # In others we get a Tcl_Obj.
+    return str(res)
 
 def showinfo(title=None, message=None, **options):
     "Show an info message"
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 29aae7993ef..4103a257df2 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #4961: Inconsistent/wrong result of askyesno function in tkMessageBox
+  with Tcl/Tk-8.5.
+
 - Issue #7356: ctypes.util: Make parsing of ldconfig output independent of
   the locale.