Nathan the Wise

About this book

Jerusalem, during the Third Crusade. A young Knight Templar, spared by Sultan Saladin because he resembles the sultan's lost brother, rescues Recha, the adopted daughter of the rich Jewish merchant Nathan, from a fire. Saladin, short of money, summons Nathan and tries to trap him with a question: which of the three religions, Judaism, Christianity or Islam, is the true one? Nathan answers with the parable of the three rings, in which a father who cannot choose between his three sons has two perfect copies made of his precious ring, so that no one can tell which is the original.

Context and significance

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), a leading figure of the German Enlightenment, published the play in 1779 as a plea for religious tolerance, and it was not staged until after his death. The ring parable comes from Boccaccio's Decameron. This translation is by William Taylor, edited by Henry Morley. Compare Scott's The Talisman, which also portrays Saladin.

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