What is "maid marian"

Marian \Ma"ri*an\, a. Pertaining to the Virgin Mary, or sometimes to Mary, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII.

Of all the Marian martyrs, Mr. Philpot was the best-born gentleman.
--Fuller.

Maid Marian. (a) See Maidmarian in the Vocabulary. (a) A prominent character in the legend of Robin Hood.

Maid Marian (or Marion) is the love interest of the legendary outlaw Robin Hood in English folklore. Maid Marian was in origin a "shepherdess" figure associated with May Day. Her role as the love interest of Robin Hood dates to at least the 16th century.

Maid Marian is a novella by Thomas Love Peacock, his fourth long work of fiction, published in 1822.

Peacock wrote all but the last three chapters of Maid Marian at Marlow in 1818. He wrote to Percy Bysshe Shelley that he did not find "this brilliant summer," of 1818, "very favourable to intellectual exertion" but before it was quite over "rivers, castles, forests, abbeys, monks, maids, kings, and banditti were all dancing before me like a masked ball." However, in 1819 Peacock was recruited to the East India Company where his official duties delayed the completion and publication of the novella until 1822. As a result of the delay, it was taken for an imitation of Ivanhoe although its composition had, in fact, preceded Scott's novel. It was soon dramatised with great success by Planché, and was translated into French and German.

Maid Marian is a preserved narrow-gauge steam locomotive built in 1903, currently based at on the Bala Lake Railway in North Wales.

Maid Marian is Robin Hood's love interest in the standard form of the legend as it emerged in the 16th century.

Maid Marian can also refer to:

• Maid Marian (novel), an 1822 novel by Thomas Love Peacock
• Maid Marian and Her Merry Men, a BBC television series
• Maid Marian (locomotive), a preserved steam locomotive
• Maid Marian Entertainment, a developer of browser-based video games