Some like to use the German expression MÃ rchen or `` wonder tale '' instead of fairy tale . For example , in his 1977 edition of The Folktale , Thompson said that fairy tales were `` a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes . Some folklorists prefer to use the German term MÃ rchen or `` wonder tale '' to refer to the genre , a practice given weight by the definition of Thompson in his 1977 edition of The Folktale : `` a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes .