"""Extract the `value` element from the XML tree, if it exists."""
from xml.etree import ElementTree as ET
xml = """
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE xgdresponse SYSTEM 'xgdresponse.dtd'>
<xgdresponse version='1.0'>
<transid>2771709</transid>
<errorcode>0</errorcode>
<response>
<result>
<element>666</element>
<errorcode>0</errorcode>
<value>SOMETHING IMPORTANT!</value>
</result>
</response>
</xgdresponse>
""".strip()
value = ET.fromstring(xml).find('response/result/value')
if value:
print 'Found value:', value.text