The Old Gravestone

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although he was a writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales. The article was written by an author in 1852. The article has a philosophical aspect. In this fairy-tale Hans Christian Andersen touches the problem of oblivion. In one provincial town was a family who owned a house with a large courtyard. There was an old stone that laid below in the courtyard not very far from the kitchen door. Children were fond of playing on it and maids often laid the clean tableware on this stone, that they might dry in the sun. This stone was an old gravestone. The master of the house told the story of this gravestone to his family. To whom this gravestone belonged?