Hermann Hesse’s Siddhartha (1922) is presented as a tale of the “lost son” (verlorene sohne) returning home after a long episode of profligate living (Colby, The Impenitent Prodigal: Hermann Hesse’s Hero. The German Quarterly 40: 1967, 14). Hesse’s contempt for worldly wealth is revealed when he writes, “Slowly the soul sickness of the rich crept over him.” Siddhartha then leaves the city and returns to the river, his adopted home. Hesse and traditional reviewers of his works fail to recognize the benefit of the free market that he unwittingly portrays in Siddhartha. In Hesse’s books, the “world” always symbolizes the sins of the prodigal. Nevertheless, a contrarian reading of the Sansara chapters can reveal a virtual primer in Austrian economics. Siddhartha does not become rich by taking immoral or unfair advantage. He identifies the skills that he can trade: storytelling for a haircut; reading and writing for a salary; patience and a long-term perspective for customer satisfaction and repeat business. The truism that “in the free market both the buyer and the seller gain” is also at work when Kamala teaches him that “one cannot have pleasure without giving it” in Hesse’s insightful description of true lovemaking. Wealth makes Siddhartha feel gluttonous and ashamed because he overlooks how business people can make the world a better place by hiring workers, purchasing supplies, producing goods and services, beautifying the community, sharing innovations, offering scholarships, and creating other community benefits while making their own businesses more profitable. This enlightened interpretation of Siddhartha offers useful insights to students of both literature and economics.