In clause 223 is inserted a statement of the various things in which wergelds may be paid. The only item the value of which is given is the cow, which is to be taken at 2½ ores if not older than eight winters and if it be ‘whole as to horns and tail, eyes and teats, and in all its legs.’ And this silver value of the cow—2½ ores—is the one used in this older description of the wergeld.
The wergeld according to this statement consists of bauga payments and upnám payments. The first are received in three baugs or rings thus:—
The 64 cows of the Bauga group.
| Höfuð (head) baug, taken by the son and the father of the slain | 10 | marks | or | 32 | cows. |
| Bróður baug, taken by brother, or if none, by the son of the slain | 5 | marks | or | 16 | cows. |
| Brœðrungs baug taken by the father’s brother’s son, i.e. first cousin of the slain | 4 | marks | or | 13 | cows - ½ ore. |
| 19 | marks | or | 60 | cows + 2 ores. | |
| To this is added for women’s gifts, i.e. the mother, daughter, sister, and wife of the slain, or in default to the son of the slain | 1 | mark | or | 3 | cows + ½ ore. |
| Total | 20 | marks | or | 64 | cows. |
After this statement is the declaration, ‘Now all the baugs are counted.’
A clause is here interpolated changing the point of view so as to show how, and by whom on the slayer’s side the same three baugs were paid.
Nú scal vigande bœta syni hins dauða hafuðbaug.
(222) The slayer shall pay to the son of the dead the höfuð baug.
En bróðer viganda scal bœta brœðr hins dauða bróðor baug, ef hann er til, ellar scal vigande bœta.
The slayer’s brother (if he has one) shall pay to the brother of the dead the bróður baug; otherwise the slayer shall pay it.