when they had gone, without even glancing up into the tall oak-tree, he came down, and rode away from the wood on an old mill-horse, with his friends the wood-cutters walking beside him to take care of him as best they could. the saddle was a poor one, and the horse's pace jolted charles so much, that at last he cried out that he had never seen so bad a steed. at this the owner of the horse jestingly told him that he should not find fault with the poor animal, which had never before carried the weight of three kingdoms upon its back. he meant, of course, that charles was king of the three kingdoms of england, and scotland, and ireland.