... single quotes around '@table' ...

If double-quotes has been used, double-quotish interpolation of an array named  @table_ would have been attempted and, with strict fully enabled (as it is in Athanasius's code), would have crashed compilation. Single-quotes do not interpolate. (Update: The  @ sigil could also be escaped in double-quotes.)

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -le
"use warnings;
 use strict;
 ;;
 print qq{@table};
"
Possible unintended interpolation of @table in string at -e line 1.
Global symbol "@table" requires explicit package name at -e line 1.
Execution of -e aborted due to compilation errors.

c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -le
"use warnings;
 use strict;
 ;;
 my @table = qw(fee fie foe);
 ;;
 print qq{double-quote array interpolation: (@table)};
 ;;
 print q{single-quote, no interpolation: (@table)};
 ;;
 print qq{double-quote, sigil escaped: (\@table)};
"
double-quote array interpolation: (fee fie foe)
single-quote, no interpolation: (@table)
double-quote, sigil escaped: (@table)
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Update: Changed code examples to consolidate compiling code examples into single group of statements.

Correct.

I noticed this after it failed the first time and I looked closer at Athanasius's code. Gvim's context-sensitive color-coding also clued me in to what was going on.

As a follow-up, I was very successful in coding this as a nested hash - it took very little time and I was quite pleased at how easy it was. It was far less code than my previous attempt using if-statements and arrays AND no soft references!