:returns: The text body of the message.

def content(self):
        """
        :returns: The text body of the message.
        """
        # The code that follows is obviously pretty disgusting.
        # It seems like it might be impossible to completely replicate
        # the text of the original message if it has trailing whitespace
        message = self._content_xpb.one_(self._message_element)
        first_line = message.text
        if message.text[:2] == '  ':
            first_line = message.text[2:]
        else:
            log.debug("message did not have expected leading whitespace")
        subsequent_lines = ''.join([
            html.tostring(child, encoding='unicode').replace('<br>', '\n')
            for child in message.iterchildren()
        ])
        message_text = first_line + subsequent_lines
        if len(message_text) > 0 and message_text[-1] == ' ':
            message_text = message_text[:-1]
        else:
            log.debug("message did not have expected leading whitespace")

        return message_text