diff --git a/src/cairo-skiplist-private.h b/src/cairo-skiplist-private.h
index 2ad40341c..4be1aa07d 100644
--- a/src/cairo-skiplist-private.h
+++ b/src/cairo-skiplist-private.h
@@ -34,6 +34,14 @@
 
 #define MAX_LEVEL   31
 
+/* Returns the index of the free-list to use for a node at level 'level' */
+#define FREELIST_FOR_LEVEL(level) (((level) - 1) / 2)
+
+/* Returns the maximum level that uses the same free-list as 'level' does */
+#define FREELIST_MAX_LEVEL_FOR(level) (((level) + 1) & ~1)
+
+#define MAX_FREELIST_LEVEL (FREELIST_FOR_LEVEL (MAX_LEVEL - 1) + 1)
+
 /*
  * Skip list element. In order to use the skip list, the caller must
  * generate a structure for list elements that has as its final member
@@ -58,7 +66,7 @@ typedef struct _skip_list {
     size_t elt_size;
     size_t data_size;
     skip_elt_t *chains[MAX_LEVEL];
-    skip_elt_t *freelists[MAX_LEVEL];
+    skip_elt_t *freelists[MAX_FREELIST_LEVEL];
     int		max_level;
 } cairo_skip_list_t;
 
diff --git a/src/cairo-skiplist.c b/src/cairo-skiplist.c
index c8a30184e..52d846527 100644
--- a/src/cairo-skiplist.c
+++ b/src/cairo-skiplist.c
@@ -232,6 +232,9 @@ _cairo_skip_list_init (cairo_skip_list_t		*list,
 
     for (i = 0; i < MAX_LEVEL; i++) {
 	list->chains[i] = NULL;
+    }
+
+    for (i = 0; i < MAX_FREELIST_LEVEL; i++) {
 	list->freelists[i] = NULL;
     }
 
@@ -247,7 +250,7 @@ _cairo_skip_list_fini (cairo_skip_list_t *list)
     while ((elt = list->chains[0])) {
 	_cairo_skip_list_delete_given (list, elt);
     }
-    for (i=0; i<MAX_LEVEL; i++) {
+    for (i=0; i<MAX_FREELIST_LEVEL; i++) {
 	elt = list->freelists[i];
 	while (elt) {
 	    skip_elt_t *nextfree = elt->prev;
@@ -282,19 +285,23 @@ random_level (void)
 static void *
 alloc_node_for_level (cairo_skip_list_t *list, unsigned level)
 {
-    if (list->freelists[level-1]) {
-	skip_elt_t *elt = list->freelists[level-1];
-	list->freelists[level-1] = elt->prev;
+    int freelist_level = FREELIST_FOR_LEVEL (level);
+    if (list->freelists[freelist_level]) {
+	skip_elt_t *elt = list->freelists[freelist_level];
+	list->freelists[freelist_level] = elt->prev;
 	return ELT_DATA(elt);
     }
-    return malloc (list->elt_size + (level-1) * sizeof (skip_elt_t *));
+    return malloc (list->elt_size
+		   + (FREELIST_MAX_LEVEL_FOR (level) - 1) * sizeof (skip_elt_t *));
 }
 
 static void
 free_elt (cairo_skip_list_t *list, skip_elt_t *elt)
 {
-    elt->prev = list->freelists[elt->prev_index];
-    list->freelists[elt->prev_index] = elt;
+    int level = elt->prev_index + 1;
+    int freelist_level = FREELIST_FOR_LEVEL (level);
+    elt->prev = list->freelists[freelist_level];
+    list->freelists[freelist_level] = elt;
 }
 
 /*