diff --git a/src/Parser.js b/src/Parser.js
index 0d41be1..019ba63 100644
--- a/src/Parser.js
+++ b/src/Parser.js
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ var importParser = {
     script: 'parseScript',
     style: 'parseGeneric'
   },
+  // TODO(sorvell): because dynamic imports are not supported, users are 
+  // writing code like in https://github.com/Polymer/HTMLImports/issues/40
+  // as a workaround. The code here checking for the existence of
+  // document.scripts is here only to support the workaround.
   parse: function(document) {
     if (!document.__importParsed) {
       // only parse once
@@ -30,14 +34,14 @@ var importParser = {
       // all parsable elements in inDocument (depth-first pre-order traversal)
       var elts = document.querySelectorAll(importParser.selectors);
       // memoize the number of scripts
-      var scriptCount = document.scripts.length;
+      var scriptCount = document.scripts ? document.scripts.length : 0;
       // for each parsable node type, call the mapped parsing method
       for (var i=0, e; i<elts.length && (e=elts[i]); i++) {
         importParser[importParser.map[e.localName]](e);
         // if a script was injected, we need to requery our nodes
         // TODO(sjmiles): injecting nodes above the current script will
         // result in errors
-        if (scriptCount !== document.scripts.length) {
+        if (document.scripts && scriptCount !== document.scripts.length) {
           // memoize the new count
           scriptCount = document.scripts.length;
           // ensure we have any new nodes in our list
diff --git a/test/html/dynamic.html b/test/html/dynamic.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e7e0df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/html/dynamic.html
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+<!doctype html>
+<html>
+  <head>
+    <title>HTML Imports Dynamic</title>
+    <script src="../../../tools/test/htmltest.js"></script>
+    <script src="../../../tools/test/chai/chai.js"></script>
+    <script src="../../html-imports.js"></script>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+    
+    <script>
+      document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
+        // some time later
+        setTimeout(function() {
+          var div = document.createElement('div');
+          div.innerHTML = '<link rel="import" href="imports/load-1.html">' +
+              '<link rel="import" href="imports/load-2.html">';
+          document.body.appendChild(div);
+          // TODO(sorvell): workaround for missing support for dynamic imports.
+          HTMLImports.importer.load(div, function() {
+            HTMLImports.parser.parse(div);
+            chai.assert.ok(load1, 'dynamic import loaded');
+            chai.assert.ok(load2, 'dynamic import loaded');
+            done();
+          });
+        });
+      });
+    </script>
+  </body>
+</html>
