The Cŵn Annwn, hounds of Annwn, the Welsh otherworld, are some of the oldest figures in Welsh myth. In the Mabinogi they are the white red-eared hounds of Arawn, king of Annwn. By Edmund Jones's time they had become a spectral pack heard crying through the air at night, and their passing was a warning of death.
Thomas Andrew, of a place called the Farm in Llanhilleth parish, was an honest religious man, Jones says, who would not tell a lie for fear or favour. Coming home one night with some companions, he heard what he thought was hunting. His first thought was of sheep-stealers running down sheep with dogs, and he hurried forward to stop them. He heard the pack coming towards him, though he could see nothing. The strange thing was the sound: as the hounds came near, their voices were small, and as they went away from him they grew louder. They went down the steep slope towards the River Ebwy, which divides Llanhilleth from Mynyddislwyn. By that he knew what they were: the Cŵn Wybir, the sky dogs, or as they were called further inland, Cŵn Annwn, the dogs of hell.
Jones adds that he had heard these spirit hunting dogs had passed by the eaves of several houses before a death in the family.
Thomas Andrew had another fright on the same kind of night walk. Beside a wall he saw what looked like a dark man, creeping on all fours, scraping at the ground, looking from side to side and making a dreadful noise. Jones found it one of the most terrible appearances in his book.
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