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When the King is in the court, he is an elephant in thorns.

What it means
An elephant in a thornbush can be protected by it or torn up by it, depending on how it moves. A king's power depends on the very people who could turn on him, so his authority is shared and fragile, not simply handed down from above.
Lozi · Southern Africa
Source and context
From: Lozi, Southern Africa
Source: Lozi (Barotseland, Zambia) royal praise-proverb; discussed in "Corporate Kingship: The Lozi of Zambia" (Canadian Journal of African Studies, via University of Toronto Press)

The meaning given here is our own reading, and has not yet been checked against a source. Other interpretations exist.

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