On the way to his execution
Charles I -- it's a matter of record --
Stopped the procession to get
A cup of milk, fresh from the cow.
He chatted with the milkmaid,
Paying her with a silver button
Pulled from his embroidered shirt-cuff;
Kings, even condemned kings,
Don't usually carry money. (Their clothes
Often lack pockets.) A servant
Carried a leather bag of coins
Which, on the scaffold, would serve
To tip the headsman .
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