Nathan has been away from home on a journey collecting debts. While traveling, he learned that his home was nearly destroyed in a fire. As he arrives back home, he finds his servant Daja in an excited state. She tells him that his daughter, Recha, nearly died in the house fire and that a Knight Templar seemed to appear out of nowhere during the fire and rescued Recha from the flames. Recha, who is recuperating from her burns, has visions of the Templar. Convinced that the knight is an angel, she has asked to see him again. Nathan wants to show the Templar his gratitude.

Recha enters in Scene 2 and happily reunites with her father. She tells Nathan that she believes the Templar was some kind of angel. Nathan tells her that he learned that the Templar is actually a prisoner, captured on a crusade. Daja adds that the sultan, Saladin, may have spared the Templar’s life not simply for rescuing Recha, but because the Templar resembles one of Saladin’s brothers. Nathan is skeptical of the claim that the Templar is an angel and of the significance of the physical similarity between the Templar and Saladin’s brother.