diff --git a/pkg/noun/manage.c b/pkg/noun/manage.c
index 126eaf07ee..024a80fce5 100644
--- a/pkg/noun/manage.c
+++ b/pkg/noun/manage.c
@@ -280,10 +280,47 @@ _cm_stack_recover(u3a_road* rod_u)
 /* _cm_stack_unwind(): unwind to the top level, preserving all frames.
 */
 static u3_noun
-_cm_stack_unwind(void)
+_cm_stack_unwind(c3_l sig_l)
 {
   u3_noun tax;
 
+  if ( c3__meme == sig_l ) {
+    //  heuristic: if we crash with %meme then our stacktrace might be too big
+    //  to copy, so we trim it.
+    //
+    //  we abuse the fact that the cells in the stacktrace list are not
+    //  structurally shared with anything else
+    //  we also use the fact that the mug hashes of the stacktrace list
+    //  do not matter (since this is a nondeterministic crash, so the
+    //  stacktrace won't get materialized as a product of the outer
+    //  computation), thus we are allowed to edit the noun in place.
+    //
+    u3_noun beg = u3R->bug.tax;
+    //  512 is from +mook to make things more consistent
+    //
+    for (c3_w i_w = 0; i_w < 512; i_w++) {
+      if ( u3_nul == beg ) break;
+      beg = u3t(beg);
+    }
+
+    if ( u3_nul != beg ) {
+      u3_noun end = u3R->bug.tax, xat = beg;
+      c3_w len_w = 0;
+      while (u3_nul != xat) {
+        xat = u3t(xat);
+        end = u3t(end);
+        len_w++;
+      }
+
+      if (len_w > 512) {
+        u3k(end);
+        u3a_cell* beg_u = u3a_to_ptr(beg);
+        u3z(beg_u->tel);
+        beg_u->tel = u3nc(u3nc(c3__mean, u3i_string("meme: trace")), end);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   while ( u3R != &(u3H->rod_u) ) {
     u3_noun yat = u3m_love(u3R->bug.tax);
 
@@ -359,7 +396,7 @@ _cm_signal_recover(c3_l sig_l, u3_noun arg)
       }
     }
 #else
-    tax = _cm_stack_unwind();
+    tax = _cm_stack_unwind(sig_l);
 #endif
     pro = u3nt(3, sig_l, tax);
     _cm_signal_reset();