if (wantarray) {
  # handle scalars too!
  return $self->{$x} if not ref $self->{$x};

  # handle arrays
  return @{ $self->{$x} } if ref $self->{$x} eq 'ARRAY';

  # handle hashes
  return %{ $self->{$x} } if ref $self->{$x} eq 'HASH';

  # panic!
  die "unknown reference type (", ref($self->{$x}), ")";
}
else { return $self->{$x} }