Bres is much younger than the Firbolg envoy. He is tall, flaxen-haired, and blue-eyed, strong of limb, broad-shouldered, and approaches with a supercilious air. Both warriors are armed and carry shields. Sreng, the Firbolg, carries a hooked, firm, brown-red shield, two thick-handled spears, called craisechs, and bears a keen-gliding sword. He wears a square helmet and carries in his hand a thick, iron club. Bres also carries a shield, is girt with a sword and also two huge spears.

Having come within speaking distance of each other, both men halt and, having planted their shields before them as a precaution against treachery, they examine each other for a while from their respective ramparts. Both wore sandals, a kilt and a short cloak. The spears carried by the Firbolg were heavy and blunt and more suited to the thrust of close fighting than the light, sharply-pointed spears of the Dé Danann-which were used for casting at the adversary from a distance.

For some moments the two men stood admiring each other's strength and equipment, then Bres, the Dé Danann spoke, and, much to the Firbolg's surprise, the speech was his own Gaelic.
"O man of Erin, shall it be peace?" he asked.
"It shall be peace," replied the Firbolg, as he lowered his shield and advanced. The Dé Danann also lowered his shield and approached fearlessly.
"Of what people art thou, O Stranger, and how comes it that thou speakest the tongue of the Firbolg?" enquired Sreng.
"I am of the Dé Dananns and come from the northern isles of the world", Bres replied, and then he explained how they had both a common ancestor, Gael, which accounted for their common language. He told of their departure from their great cities, Falias, Findas, Murias, and Gorias, where they had acquired a knowledge of the arts of peace and the science of war coupled with a power and a magic in which they surpassed the sages of the arts of heathendom. He told of the treasures they had taken with them in the search for this land whence their ancestors had gone forth two hundred years before; the wondrous stone of Fail which roared when a rightful king stood upon it-the self-same stone which yet lies embedded in Cruachan of the Kings of Roscommon; the irresistible sword called Tethra which they took from the city Findias; the powerful spear from Gorias; and the cauldron of Murias called "the Daghda's Pot", from which no company ever went unthankful. Sreng listened carefully to the words of Bres, the while he exchanged for examination the spears which he carried for those of the Dé Danann. Then he asked. "With what intent have you come to Erin? To seize our land?"
"My king," answered Bres, "has sent me hither to announce to the people of Erin that he will divide the country with them. He has no desire for war."
Sreng shrugged his shoulders and controlled his anger at the cool assumption of the stranger. "I shall take the announcement to King Mac Erc," he said, "but the Firbolg do not give up their land for the asking."
"If it be war, we are prepared, "was the haughty comment of Bres and forthwith the envoys from the sons of Nemed departed on their separate ways. Sreng taking with him the spears of the Dé Danann and Bres carrying with him the Firbolg spears.

And now, although you may have to wait for some time the issue of the conferences that took place at the Firbolg and Dé Danann camps consequent on the return of their respective envoys, we can-thanks to the painstaking methods of the old Irish Chroniclers-"listen in" to the proceedings of the two councils.

Sreng is amongst the assembled Firbolgs and is describing the Dé Danann arms. "Their shields, he says, "are great and firm; their spears are sharp, thin and hard"; and he holds up the specimens-the spears of Bres-for them to see "Their swords, "he continues, "are hard and deep edged." Sreng then repeats what Dé Danann had spoken with regard to their common ancestor Nemed; their community of language and dress, and ends his disclosure by advising that, as the Dé Dananns were blood brothers of their own, and a people possessed of an amount of mechanical and philosophical knowledge as well as a degree of general refinement that seemed superior to their own, the wise course was to divide the island equally with them and live in peace with the new-come strangers. The Firbolgs though much impressed by what they have heard and seen, are, nevertheless, unwilling to agree to such easy terms and some cry out, that if the Dé Dananns are given half they would soon take the whole.