diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/detach_ancestor.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/detach_ancestor.rs
index fb539a616d..8076c98790 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/detach_ancestor.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/detach_ancestor.rs
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ pub(crate) enum Error {
     #[error("no ancestors")]
     NoAncestor,
 
-    #[error("the branch has more than 1 ancestor and cannot be fast-path detached")]
+    #[error("too many ancestors")]
     TooManyAncestors,
 
     #[error("shutting down, please retry later")]