what meaning "...ほんとにあった"?


What does ほんとにあった mean? (translation), the context appears in the image but I
explain: they went to the shore of a lake to look for herbs for their friend
who is sick, and the bird, thanks to being sensitive to water, found the shore
and took them and when they arrived say that

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wlByz.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wlByz.jpg)




This ほんとにあった means "(I realized) it really exists!", "It's really here!". This
person had been skeptical, but just realized the bird was correct.

This あった is something called _modal-ta_. It's used when the speaker found
something. See: [Non conventional usage of the past
tense](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/40733/5010)

