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Puck is an anglicized version of the Irish pooka or Welsh pwcca -- a spirit which often assumes the form of an animal to bedevil humankind. Though, the pooka of legend is perhaps less benign than the Puck of Shakespeare's play.

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"Thou speak'st aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal:
And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl,
In very likeness of a roasted crab,
And when she drinks, against her lips I bob
And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough;
And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh,
And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear
A merrier hour was never wasted there."

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According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the word "pooka" is derived from the "Irish puca, from Old Irish, probably from Old English pca, [meaning] goblin...."

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You may find more information by doing a Google search on the terms Puck and Pooka together.

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-- Nanaea