The Owl and the Nightingale is a Middle English poem preserved in two manuscripts. This edition is based on the text of the Cottonian MS. This critical edition that we are submitting to the consideration of our -we hope- kind readers has been prepared according to the principle of accommodating the medieval text to modern usage concerning punctuation and the use of capitals and quotation marks, and transliterating original wynn for "w" to facilitate a convenient textual approach.