On a certain day, Deipinkara was travelling through the country for the twofold purpose of preaching the law and collecting his food. Arrived near a place where the road was very bad, he stopped for a while until the road should be made passable. The people hastened from all parts to come and prepare the road for Deipinkara and his followers. Thoomeda, gifted with the privilege of travelling through the air, happened to pass over the spot where crowds of people were busily engaged in preparing and levelling a road. The hermit alighted on that spot, and inquired of the people what was the reason of their busy exertions. They told him that the most excellent Deipinkara was expected with a large retinue of disciples, and that they strained every nerve to have the road ready for them. Thoomeda begged to be permitted to bear a part in the good work, and asked that a certain extent of the road be assigned to him as his task. His request was granted, and he forthwith set to work with the greatest diligence. It was all but finished when Buddha Deipinkara, followed by forty thousand disciples, made his appearance. Thoomeda, actuated by an ardent desire of testifying his respect to the holy personage, without a moment's hesitation flung himself into the hollow that was as yet not filled, and lying on his belly, with his back upwards, bridged the place, and entreated the Buddha and his followers to cross the hollow by trampling over his body. Great and abundant shall be the merits that I, said he within himself, shall gain by this good work. No doubt I will receive from the mouth of Deipinkara the assurance that I shall, hereafter, obtain the Buddhaship. The Buddha, standing over him, admired the humble and fervent devotedness of Thoomeda. With one glance he perceived all that was going on in the hermit's mind, and with a loud voice, that could be heard by all his disciples, he assured him that four thingies and one hundred thousand worlds hence he would become a Buddha, the fourth that would appear during the world, called Badda. He went on to describe minutely the principal events that were to illustrate his future career. No sooner was this revelation made to him than Thoomeda hastened back to his forest. Sitting at the foot of a tree, he encouraged himself by fine comparisons to the practice of those virtues that were best suited to weaken in him the influence of the passions. In the different existences that followed, Thoomeda, at all the periods of the appearance of some Buddhas, received a confirmation of the promise he had had from the lips of Deipinkara.