Travellers staying at an inn on the old road near Betws-y-Coed kept losing their money in the night, though their doors stayed locked. One victim went to Huw Llwyd of Cynfal, who agreed to look into it. Huw had been an army officer, and he turned up at the inn in his regimentals with his sword at his side, saying he was on his way to Ireland. The inn was kept by two attractive sisters, and he entertained them all evening with stories of foreign parts. At bedtime he asked for enough candles to burn all night.
He lay with his sword unsheathed beside him and pretended to sleep. Two cats crept down the partition wall, played about the room, and began pawing through his clothes. As one slipped a paw into the pocket that held his purse, he slashed it with the sword. Both vanished screaming. In the morning only one sister came to breakfast; the other, she said, was unwell. Huw insisted on saying goodbye, and when the invalid offered her left hand he refused it, saying he had never taken a left hand in his life. She gave him her right, which was bandaged. "I am Huw Llwyd of Cynfal," he told her, and warned her not to let him have to come back.
Months later, the story continues, he saw the two women coming towards his house one Sunday morning as he set out for church. He knew they could only bewitch him while his back was turned, so he walked backwards every step from Cynfal to the church. In the porch, safe from them, he told them he would take their power away before he left, and did.
On his deathbed Huw told his daughter to throw his books of the dark arts into a pool. She could not bring herself to do it and told him she had. He asked if she had seen anything strange, and when she said no, he knew she was lying and said he could not die until it was done. The second time she threw them in, and before the books touched the water two hands rose out of the pool, caught them and drew them under. When she told him, he said, "Now I can die in peace", and did.
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