Metatable Madness

local function new()
    local x = { level = 1, new = new }
    local m = {}
    setmetatable(x, m)

    m.__eq = function(p1,p2)
        if getmetatable(p1) == getmetatable(p2) then
            return true
        end
    end

    m.__index = function(inst, key)
        local lvl = rawget(inst, "level")
        if key == "level" then
            return lvl
        else
            return setmetatable({ level = lvl + 1 }, m)
        end
    end

    m.__tostring = function(inst)
        return ("RECURSION "):rep(rawget(inst, "level"))
    end

    return x
end

return new()