theyd believed the promises of politicians and look where that had gotten them , and they had believed the promises of their hearts when they had needed to hope that they could somehow make a life out of the land , the bedrock , the barren , rocky land , the beautiful , fickle land that they had acquired so easily but kept at their peril , afraid to venture forth to greener pastures , until there were no greener pastures to venture forth to , and look where that had gotten them , so why not believe the promise of this preacher with his young innocent virgin , why not ?