Meanwhile the fighting had gone on at Mag Tuiread
by the lakes, till but three hundred of the Firbolgs
were left, with Sreng, the fierce fighter, at their
head. Sreng had gained enduring fame by meeting
Nuada, the De Danaan king, in combat, and smiting
him so that he clove the shield-rim and cut down deep
into Nuada’s shoulder, disabling him utterly
from the battle. Seeing themselves quite outnumbered,
therefore, the survivors of the Firbolgs with Sreng
demanded single combat with De Danaan champions, but
the victors offered them worthy terms of peace.
The Firbolgs were to hold in lordship and freedom whichever
they might choose of the five provinces; the conquerors
were to have the rest.
Sreng looked around among his band of survivors,—a
little band, though of great valor,—and
he remembered the hosts of his people that had entered
the battle three days before, but now lay strewn upon
the plain; and thinking that they had done enough
for valor he accepted the offered terms, choosing
the Western Province for his men. In memory of
him it was called Cuigead Sreing for generations,
until Conn of the Five-Score Battles changed the name
for his own, calling the province Connacht, as it
is to this day.
It fared less well with the victors, and with their
victory were sown seeds of future discord. For
Nuada, the king, being grievously wounded, was in
no state to rule, so that the chief power was given
to Breas, first envoy of the De Danaans. Now
Breas was only half De Danaan, half Fomor, and would
not recognize the De Danaan rites or laws of hospitality,
but was a very tyrannous and overbearing ruler, so
that much evil came of his government. Yet for
seven years he was endured, even though meat nor ale
was dispensed at his banquets, according to De Danaan
law.
Mutterings against Breas were rife among the chiefs
and their followers when the bard Cairbre, whose mother
Etan was also a maker of verses, came to the assembly
of Breas. But the bard was shown little honor
and given a mean lodging,—a room without
fire or bed, with three dry loaves for his fare.
The bard was full of resentment and set himself to
make songs against Breas, so that all men repeated
his verses, and the name of Breas fell into contempt.
All men’s minds were enkindled by the bard,
and they drove Breas forth from the chieftainship.
Breas fled to his Fomor kindred in the isles, with
his heart full of anger and revenge against the De
Danaans.
He sought help of his kindred, and their design was
told to the Fomorian chieftains—to Balor
of the Evil Eye, and to Indec, son of De Domnand,
chiefs of the Isles. These two leaders gathered
ships from all the harbors and settlements of the
Fomorians, from the Hebrides, the Shetlands, and far-distant
Norway, so that their fleet was thick as gulls above
a shoal of fish along the north shores of Erin.
