class REXML::Element

and so is always normalized text.
Note also that the text note is retrieved by method get_text,

Even so, the returned value is the string text from the first such node.
possibly separated by other non-text children, as above.
Note that an element may have multiple text nodes,

d.root.text(1) # => "this is bold!"

in the element that matches +xpath+:
With argument +xpath+, returns text from the first text node

d.root.text # => "some text "
d.root.text.class # => String
d = REXML::Document.new "

some text this is bold! more text

"

With no argument, returns the text from the first text node in +self+:

in a specified element, if it exists, +nil+ otherwise.
Returns the text string from the first text node child

text(xpath = nil) -> text_string or nil
:call-seq:

def text( path = nil )
  rv = get_text(path)
  return rv.value unless rv.nil?
  nil
end