The witch Erwena lived during the fifth century, which was about the time of Merlin's coming to Snowdonia. She made her home in a cave in the Idwal Slabs, below the Devil's kitchen, in the Ogwen Valley. This meant she was close enough to Satan to carry out her master's wishes. Rocks about 300 feet high narrowly hem in this kitchen, with a mountain torrent hissing an bubbling through it and finally discharging into a lake. This is Llyn Idwal it is an area well known to climbers and walkers in particular and includes the famous mountains, Glyder Fawr and Tryfan. The lake and the slabs are named after a welsh prince called Idwal. Tradition says that he was lured to the Devil's kitchen then dragged into the lake and pushed under the water to drown by his Satanic majesty himself. The person who eventually got the blame for the drowning of the prince was Nefydd Hardd, his foster father. The suspicion was, according to ancient Celtic folklore, that the person who had lured Prince Idwal to his doom at the hands of the devil was the witch Erwena, and not his foster father. Her main duty was to lure unsuspecting shepherds and travellers to the Devil's kitchen, who were never to be seen again, as they had been, claimed by the dark lord himself. Prince Idwal was doubtless her most distinguished victim. One of her methods was to transform herself into a little lamb or kid crying piteously. The unlucky person would follow the little creature and reaching Llyn Idwal would meet the devil, and lose his soul. Erwena the witch had never been known to beg, and local supposition was that black magic kept her alive. They thought she added to her diet (like the witch Canrig Bwt, who once lived in the other mountain pass called Llanberis) by eating young children. Infants, who disappeared from their mountainside homes without trace, were thought to have been stolen by the witch. People who believed at that time in such a tale seemed to forget that fierce wolves and eagles lived in this remote part of North Wales, and for them it was easy to carry off a child in their respective jaws. No specific instances or proof of Erwena carrying out her vile task for Satan or of eating young children have been recorded in Welsh folklore. There is no record of how or when Erwena died. The supposition was that finally she became too old to lure unsuspecting victims, and Satan being Satan, drowned her and dragged her down into the lake, a poor return for her faithful service.
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