And after a while they put their shields away, and it was what Sreng
said, that he had raised his in dread of the thin, sharp spears Bres had
in his hand. And Bres said he himself was in dread of the thick-handled
spears he saw with Sreng, and he asked were all the arms of the Firbolgs
of the same sort. And Sreng took off the tyings of his spears to show
them better, and Bres wondered at them, being so strong and so heavy,
and so sharp at the sides though they had no points. And Sreng told him
the name of those spears was Craisech, and that they would break through
shields and crush flesh and bones, so that their thrust was death or
wounds that never healed. And then he looked at the sharp, thin,
hard-pointed spears that were with Bres. And in the end they made an
exchange of spears, the way the fighters on each side would see the
weapons the others were used to. And it is the message Bres sent to the
Firbolgs, that if they would give up one half of Ireland, his people
would be content to take it in peace; but if they would not give up that
much, there should be a battle. And he and Sreng said to one another
that whatever might happen in the future, they themselves would be
friends.
Sreng went back then to Teamhair and gave the message and showed the
spear; and it is what he advised his people, to share the country and
not to go into battle with a people that had weapons so much better than
their own. But Eochaid and his chief men consulted together, and they
said in the end: "We will not give up the half of the country to these
strangers; for if we do," they said, "they will soon take the whole.
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