Open Access. © 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110776478-009 Daniel Berounský An Old Tibetan Myth on Retribution for Killing the Nyen (Gnyan stong): Manuscripts Scattered between Naxi, Tanguts, Eastern and Western Tibet Abstract: This chapter introduces eleven versions of a myth that appear in both Tibetan and Naxi sources. The myth concerns the payment of retribution (stong) for killing a type of non-human being known as Nyen (gnyan) by members of a (human) Tibetan protoclan named Dong (Ldong). Six versions appear in Tibetan sources, and five in Naxi manuscripts. The Tibetan sources in question are the so-called Nyen Collection (Gnyan ’bum), of which four versions are available; the Tö Collection (Gtod ’bum), of which we have one version; and finally, a manu- script dealing with aquatic spirits Lu (klu) that was found in Gathang Bumpa Stupa, southern Tibet. One of the five Naxi versions was paraphrased in English by Joseph Rock in 1952. The fact that there are numerous surviving versions sug- gests that this myth was once well-known in eastern Tibet. It also provides a link between Naxi myths, East Tibetan non-Buddhist traditions, and West Tibet, where two versions of the Nyen Collection were found. 1 Introduction The present paper touches upon a fascinating, but very puzzling, topic of a certain non-Buddhist mytho-poetic tradition related to eastern Tibet. This tradition is found in an interesting corpus of myths known as the Nyen Collection (Gnyan ’bum), which was the subject of an article by Samten G. Karmay1 and two recent contributions by myself.2 However, this lore apparently did not live in isolation: the surviving corpus of myths, which features in the three known versions of the Nyen Collection, is clearly not some ur-version that was immune to any changes: the extant versions bear signs of amendations, as well as additions and compi- lations from diverse sources. The Nyen Collection is related to three other large 1 Karmay 2010. 2 Berounsky 2016 and 2017.